Rep. Stansbury weighs in on Protecting Our Kids Act

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new national gun reform bill, called the Protecting Our Kids Act, passed the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday. Now, it’s headed to the Senate.

Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat representing New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, told KOB 4 she voted for the bill after seeing more than 200 mass shootings nationwide this year. Stansbury said she believes it’s time to take a stand against gun violence and she’s hopeful her colleagues in the Senate feel the same way.

“Yesterday and today we passed a slate of gun protection measures that will help take dangerous weapons off the street, raise the age for individuals to purchase semi-automatic weapons, that will ban bump stocks and other weapons that have led to the kind of shootings we are seeing,” Stansbury said via Zoom Thursday.

Earlier this week, a survivor of the Uvalde school shooting, 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, gave an emotionally testimony recalling what happened in her classroom.

“He shot my teacher, told her good night as he shot her in the head,” Cerrillo said.

She was asked if she feels safe at school and she shook her head. When asked why not, Cerrillo replied:

“Because I don’t want it to happen again.”

While Stansbury wasn’t in that committee hearing, she still heard Carrillo’s message.

“Our kids are asking us to take action, our parents are asking us to take action, all over the country, American people want to see Congress take action,” Stansbury said.

The Protecting Our Kids Act is now in the hands of the Senate.

“We need meaningful action, we need the Senate to act, and we need them to pass something because we need to pass and send legislation to the president’s desk, Stansbury said.

Stansbury mentioned she had heard of some bipartisan negotiations happening in the Senate. She hopes they will find middle ground and also pass the Protecting Our Kids Act.