Here’s Pelosi reading the vote tally:

The new “assault weapon ban” just passed the house. Vote was 217-213. Pelosi is smiling. pic.twitter.com/sArKLwwI3T

— Emily Miller (@emilymiller) July 29, 2022

Five Democrats voted against it and two Republican voted for it:

The “assault weapons” ban passes the House.
Democrats who voted against: Cuellar (TX), Gonzalez (TX), Schrader (OR), Kind (WI), Golden (ME)

Republicans who voted for: Fitzpatrick (PA), Jacobs (NY) https://t.co/2MgEtWyDNE

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) July 29, 2022

Gun control advocates are celebrating even though this is going nowhere.

IT PASSED! Our gun sense majority in the House continues to show the country what action on gun safety looks like by advancing legislation for the first time in 30 years to regulate assault weapons. https://t.co/jN6fB7UE4b

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 29, 2022

The carnage in Uvalde was made possible by an assault weapon that could fire dozens of rounds in a matter of seconds.

Today, I voted to ban these weapons of war. I hope the Senate will do the right thing and send this bill to the president's desk.

— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) July 29, 2022

Assault weapons are tearing Americans apart. They kill kids in schools, spill blood on our streets, and bring the trauma of war to communities that should know only peace.

I led the Judiciary Committee as we worked to ban these weapons of war. Today, the ban passed the House. https://t.co/LB1eAuZrRb

— Jerry Nadler (@JerryNadler) July 29, 2022

BIG NEWS: The House just passed a bill to BAN assault weapons and save lives.

It’s time for the Senate to do its job. Now, dammit.

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 29, 2022

We just PASSED the Assault Weapons Ban!

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 29, 2022

CNN notes that there was a lot of horse trading just to get this far:

Friday’s vote came as progressives, moderates and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are divided on how to handle the policing funding component of a broader public safety package, which was not included in Friday’s series of votes. While negotiations on that proposal are continuing, according to sources, the key negotiators were hoping to settle both issues in hopes of having a vote on both packages as soon as Friday.

Moderate and vulnerable Democrats had been pushing for a vote on the policing legislation before they leave town in an effort to rebut GOP attacks over defunding the police, but members of the CBC had concerns and have been pushing for accountability language.

The deal to try to combine both pieces of legislation came together late Thursday night, and was negotiated between Pelosi, Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio, and moderate Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. But other members of the Congressional Black and Progressive caucuses were frustrated that they were kept out of the loop, which is ultimately why Democratic leadership decided to separate the bills.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus held a meeting Friday morning and sources say many were frustrated to not be given equal negotiating power…

House Democrats held a procedural vote open for more than an hour on Friday while Pelosi, Congressional Black Caucus members, Gottheimer and others huddled on the House floor to negotiate. Ultimately, the news broke during the vote that leadership was splitting the package.

So they got a win and they can run on the issue this fall. However, it remains to be seen if this will help more than it hurts the party.

If anything, H.R. 1808 underlines the arbitrariness of those distinctions. It includes a 94-page list of firearms that are explicitly exempted from the ban. The Iver Johnson M1 carbine, for example, is allowed, provided it does not have a folding stock, a feature that has no impact on the gun’s lethality. The Ruger Mini-14 Ranch rifle is likewise exempted, as long as it has a fixed stock and does not have a pistol grip. Yet the Ruger Mini-14 Tactical rifle (Model 5888), which is otherwise functionally identical, is prohibited.

For obvious reasons, Democrats did not want to talk about details like those, instead relying on misdirection and misstatements of fact to make the case for the bill. But after decades of legislation based on such dubious distinctions, Americans may be wising up. In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in early June, just 50 percent of respondents favored “a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons,” while 45 percent were opposed and 5 percent offered no opinion. As Fox News noted, that was “the lowest level of support since February 2013,” when Quinnipiac first posed the question. The results are especially notable because the survey was completed just two weeks after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas…

Gallup’s most recent poll on the issue, conducted last month, phrased the question this way: “Do you think there should or should not be a ban on the manufacture, possession and sale of semi-automatic guns known as assault rifles?” Fifty-five percent of respondents said there should be such a ban.

So there’s some evidence this is a fairly close question. But when it comes to Democrats running close races in red states the issue is likely to go against them. Given the red wave that is already poised to flood the House, this largely symbolic vote may not have been such a great idea.