The legislative package passed in a 223-204 vote, with five Republicans joining all but two Democrats in supporting the measure. It now heads to the evenly split Senate, which is not expected to take up the legislation as negotiators attempt to craft a much narrower measure designed to win enough bipartisan support to overcome a GOP filibuster.

Democratic Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon opposed the bill. The five Republicans who bucked their party were Reps. Chris Jacobs of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Fred Upton of Michigan, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

The Protecting Our Kids Act, written by Democrats, is an attempt to offer the party's vision for gun laws and to pressure Republican lawmakers who are resistant to tougher limits in response to a wave of mass shootings.

"Why? Why would someone be against raising the age so that teenagers do not have AK-47s?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday at an event with advocates seeking to reduce gun violence. "Yes, they say mental health issues. Yes, we want to address mental health issues. Other countries have mental health issues. They don't have a gun violence epidemic."