House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is refusing to throw her support behind a bipartisan deal on guns and school safety.
Mrs. Pelosi said that while she trusted the Senate to negotiate a deal, her support would be contingent upon how narrow or wide the proposal ended up being.
“I do trust the fact that they are talking,” said Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat. “But again, the expectation is obviously they’re not going to get [something close to what the House] would pass.”
Mrs. Pelosi said that although nothing had been decided, support for a bipartisan compromise would be judged by how close it came to a spate of gun-control measures passed by the House earlier this week.
“My point is we’re only making history today if we make progress on the legislation. This is a strong package,” she said. “If we get some of it, it will save lives.”
The remarks come as the Senate continues to hold bipartisan negotiations on guns. Those talks center around more money for school security, incentives for states to adopt “red flag” laws and expanding the background check system to include youth felony records.
The areas are significantly less ambitious than the gun-control package Mrs. Pelosi pushed through the House earlier this week.
Named the Protecting Our Kids Act, the legislation raises the minimum age required to purchase a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21. It also restricts ammunition magazine capacity to no more than 10 bullets and requires existing bump stocks to be registered while banning the sale of bump stocks for civilian use.
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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