“There’s a lot of healing that will have to happen both physically and emotionally. There’s no doubt that this experience is something that will be maintained in terms of trauma,” Harris told media members gathered at the scene of the the shooting in Highland Park. “I would like to urge all families and all people to seek the support you so rightly deserve.”
Addressing gun security in the United States, the vice president continued: “We need to be smarter as a country when it comes to who has access to what, and in particular to assault weapons. We need to take ourselves these things seriously.As seriously.as you are because you have been forced to take it seriously.The whole nation should understand and have a level of empathy to understand that this can happen anywhere, in any community that loves peace “.
Harris was accompanied by Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, U.S. Representative Brad Schneider and State Senator Julie Morrison during the visit.
In a call Tuesday morning, Rotering had invited the vice president to join her in Highland Park after Harris’ speech at the Chicago National Education Association.
In those statements, just miles from Highland Park, the vice president made it clear to Congress that he “had the courage” to act with the ban on assault weapons and to “stop protecting” gun manufacturers.
“Yesterday should have been a day to gather with family and friends to celebrate the independence of our nation, and instead this community suffered a violent tragedy,” Harris said during the speech, and went add that “we must stop this violence.”
“You know, I’ve said it before. That’s enough,” he said forcefully. “I mean, here we are, our nation is still mourning the loss of these 19 babies and their two teachers in Uvalde.”
President Joe Biden signed late last month the first major federal gun safety legislation passed in decades, marking a major bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most controversial political issues in Washington. The legislation met after the recent mass shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that was located in a predominantly black neighborhood.
“God willing, he will save many lives,” Biden told the White House when he finished signing the bill.
This story is being broken and will be updated.
CNN’s Mary Kay Mallonee and Nikki Carvajal contributed to this report.