Kamala Harris: ‘We Should Have an Assault Weapons Ban’

On Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris on CNN’s “State of the Union” called on lawmakers to pass an “assault weapons ban.”

Anchor Dana Bash said, “More broadly, there have been at least 50 mass shootings in America in a little over a month. Your administration has made clear that infrastructure is the next big legislative priority. Why not guns? Anthony Fauci told me over the weekend that gun violence is a public health emergency.”

Harris said, “Well, I would disagree. We actually, as an administration, have taken action. The president issued executive orders, for example, on ghost guns, and there is only so much, however, that a president can do through executive action. This president, Joe Biden, has a long-standing history of speaking very clearly and unambiguously about the need for smart gun safety laws, back from the time that he was in the Senate through today. But I guess that emphasizes the point that both he when he was in the Senate when I was in the Senate, same thing, we were pushing for legislation. Congress has to act. Because we have to codify, that’s a fancy word for make permanent, make the law, that we agree.”

She added, “We should have background checks. That’s just reasonable gun safety laws. We should have an assault weapons ban. Assault weapons have been designed to kill a lot of people quickly. They are weapons of war, and Congress has to account, Dana. I mean, you know, I was recently in Connecticut. Senators Murphy and Blumenthal and the governor there, so many people, the families of Sandy Hook. You know, I honestly thought that when those babies, 26 seven-year-old children, were slaughtered, I thought Congress would act. I thought that would be the thing, and it didn’t happen.”

Bash said, “But do you think it can happen?”

Harris said, “It has to happen.”

Bash said, “My question was about your priority as an administration.”

Harris said, “It is part of our priority. We have to multitask. Not one to the exclusion of the other.”

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