Uvalde shooting: Kamala Harris calls for assault weapons ban
US Vice-President Kamala Harris has made an impassioned plea for a ban on assault weapons in the wake of two deadly mass shootings in the US.
Harris was attending the funeral of Ruth Whitfield, 86, killed in a supermarket in Buffalo on 14 May.
That shooting came just 10 days before an attack on a Texas primary school left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Harris, listing these and other attacks, said it was time to say “enough is enough” to gun violence.
“Everybody’s got 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,” she told the congregants at the funeral.
She added that the solution was clear – and included things like background checks and an assault weapons ban.
“Do you know what an assault weapon is?” she asked, continuing: “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.”
The 18-year-old gunman in Tuesday’s shooting in Uvalde had two AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles, at least one of which he is reported to have bought soon after his birthday.
After he was shot dead, police found as many as 1,657 rounds of ammunition and 60 magazines in his possession.
The Buffalo, New York, shooter, also 18, had previously come into contact with authorities, but no red flags came up when he legally bought his own AR-15-style weapon.
“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 a threat to themselves or others? That’s just reasonable,” Harris said on Saturday.
However, attempts to bring in universal background checks and bans on assault weapons have hit roadblocks. The issue is divisive in the US, with almost all Democrats backing stronger controls, compared to just 24% of Republicans.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES