Kamala Harris called for a ban on assault weapons in the US and the passage of much-delayed gun control legislation after speaking on Saturday at a funeral for the oldest victim of the Buffalo mass shooting earlier this month.
After giving remarks at the service for Ruth Whitfield, the oldest person killed during the grocery store shooting two weeks ago, Harris called upon lawmakers to pass an assault weapons ban, while speaking with reporters.
“Everybody’s got to stand up and agree that this should not be happening in our country,” said Harris, noting that Joe Biden would be visiting Uvalde, Texas, on Sunday, the site of Tuesday’s mass shooting where 21 people, including 19 children, were killed.
“We are not sitting around, waiting to figure out what the solution looks like,” said Harris. “We know what works on this. It includes – let’s have an assault weapons ban.”
“An assault weapon is a weapon of war,” Harris added, “with no place in a civil society.” Harris also called for universal background checks on gun purchases, which is a law long blocked by Republicans in the US Senate. “Why should anyone be able to buy a weapon that can kill other human beings without at least knowing, ‘Hey, has that person committed a violent crime before? Are they are a threat against themselves or others?,’” she said.
Harris said at the funeral that Scripture teaches about strength, and that strength is based on who “you lift up” rather than “who you beat down.” “And it means then also, in that strength, understanding we will not allow small people to create fear in our communities that we will not be afraid to stand up for what is right, to speak up even when it may be difficult to hear and speak,” she said.
Though “assault weapons” is a broad term, Harris was certainly referring to guns like AR-15-style rifles used in both the May 14 Buffalo shooting and the Uvalde, Texas school shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead. She told reporters before boarding the plane, “You know what an assault weapon is? You know how an assault weapon was designed? It was designed for a specific purpose – to kill a lot of human beings quickly. An assault weapon is a weapon of war with no place, no place in a civil society.”
