Vice President Kamala Harris told young activists they are “critical” to changing the federal calculus on guns, saying their voices and votes can usher in a ban on military-style rifles and make firearm companies liable for gun violence.
Ms. Harris said last year’s bipartisan gun law was “historic” but not enough to stem gun violence in America. She also ridiculed the idea that arming teachers in the classroom will solve mass shootings in schools.
“Our teachers want to teach. Our teachers want to teach — and we don’t pay them enough as it is,” she told a supportive crowd at the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s annual Gun Sense University conference in Chicago.
Ms. Harris, who is keeping a busy travel schedule as the 2024 cycle ramps up, drew a straight line between the potential for tighter laws and the upcoming election.
She said lobbying efforts by young gun-safety advocates will chip away at Capitol Hill’s resistance to stiffer laws.
“You are putting the pressure on the folks who are on the inside to act. It matters,” she said. “The system has to hear the voices and respond in some way.”
At one point, she leaped to her feet and said: “Your generation is critical. You are critical to this issue. We are counting on you, we need you.”
The administration says a bipartisan gun law signed last year — the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — showed the parties in Congress can respond to public pressure and pass gun-safety legislation.
The law strengthened background checks on persons under 21 trying to buy a gun and funded state efforts to enforce red flag laws to seize weapons from persons that might be a danger to themselves or others. It also makes it harder for domestic abusers to obtain guns and provides funding for thousands of mental health professionals in schools.
The bill got through Congress after a racist mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and a shocking massacre in a classroom in Uvalde, Texas.
“It is historic, and it is a drop in the bucket,” Ms. Harris said. “Because we still have so much more to do.”
Republicans in Congress say they want to do more on gun violence but new laws should punish criminals instead of law-abiding gun owners.
They’ve also argued that efforts to restrict responsible gun ownership put innocent people in danger because lawbreakers will find ways to obtain weapons and wreak havoc against unarmed persons.
Ms. Harris said she is broadly supportive of the Second Amendment right to bear arms but wants to see a ban on military-style semiautomatic rifles or what critics call “assault weapons.” She said these types of rifles, such as the AR-15-style rifles that are the most popular long guns sold in the U.S., have no place on the “streets of a civil society.”
“There are some people who are just trying to sell false choice. That false choice [is] you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away,” Ms. Harris said.
Facing legislative resistance, President Biden is prepping executive action to broaden the definition of gun sellers who are subject to federal licensing and background check requirements, according to a CNN report Friday.
The push is aimed at younger voters who are animated by gun safety because of mass shootings at schools and other public venues.
The vice president said children have told her how they don’t like going to certain classrooms because there is no closet to hide in.
“As vice president of the United States, I’m acutely aware of the fact that gun violence is the leading cause of death of the children of America,” Ms. Harris said, adding that as a prosecutor she used to see autopsy reports for gun victims. “I know what this violence does to the human body.”
The Everytown group endorsed the Biden-Harris 2024 ticket before Ms. Harris’ appearance.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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