“On the subject of armed violence, I will say, as I have said many times, we are not sitting around waiting to find out what the solution is. You know, we are not looking for a vaccine,” Harris said. journalists in Buffalo, New York, after attending the funeral of a victim of a mass shooting earlier this month. “We know what works in this. Includes, let’s have a ban on assault weapons.”
“Do you know what an assault weapon is? Do you know how an assault weapon was designed?” she continued. “It was designed for a specific purpose: to kill many human beings quickly. An assault weapon is a weapon of war with no place or place in a civil society.”
Harris, who had previously called for a ban on assault weapons, also called for an improvement in the firearms purchase record on Saturday, noting that so far there have been more than 200 mass shootings in the United States. country, despite being “barely in the middle of the year.”
“Everyone has to stand up and agree that this should not be happening in our country, and that we should have the courage to do something about it,” he said.
Harris did not answer a reporter’s question about whether President Joe Biden would pursue an executive order if Congress did not approve a significant arms reform. The president said during a trip to Buffalo last week that “there was not much executive action” he could take to further strengthen arms control measures. He said he had to “convince Congress” to pass laws such as the 1994 assault ban. Biden will visit Uvalde, Texas on Sunday to meet the families of the children and teachers killed during the mass shooting at the school. primary Robb. Harris was in Buffalo on Saturday, along with second gentleman Doug Emhoff, to attend the funeral of 86-year-old Ruth E. Whitfield, the biggest victim of the May 14 shooting at the Tops Friendly Markets store.
During the service at Mt. Olive Baptist Church, the vice president, who was invited to speak by the Rev. Al Sharpton, said the nation “is experiencing a hate epidemic.”
Harris said that the present moment “requires all good people, all people who love God to stand up and say,” We will not endure this; enough, we will meet based on what we all know we have in common. and we will not let those people who are motivated by hatred separate us or make us feel afraid. “
CNN’s Nicquel Terry Ellis and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.