Harris says US must end ‘epidemic’ of gun violence after latest shooting

PORTSMOUTH: Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Wednesday called on Americans to stop the “epidemic of gun violence” plaguing the United States after a mass shooting at a Georgia high school left four dead.

The US vice president, speaking at a rally in New Hampshire, also reiterated her call for a ban on assault weapons – a position widely opposed by Republicans – and support for further tightening of US gun safety laws.

“This is just a senseless tragedy, on top of so many senseless tragedies,” Harris said of the shooting at Apalachee High School in Winter, Georgia, the latest spasm of gun violence to affect a country that has already seen hundreds of mass shootings. year.

“And it’s just outrageous that every day in our country, in the United States of America, parents send their children to school worrying about whether their child is going to come home alive or not,” he added.

“We need to end this epidemic of gun violence in our country once and for all. It doesn’t have to be this way,” Harris, who was locked in a tight race with Republican former President Donald Trump, told the crowd before lying down. elements of its financial plan.

Trump, seen by his party as a champion of gun rights, posted on social media that “our hearts go out to the victims” and said “these beloved children were taken too soon by a sick and deranged monster.” .

Harris, a one-time California district attorney and attorney general and former U.S. senator, called on Congress to “finally” pass an assault weapons ban similar to the one that current President Joe Biden helped write as a senator and pass into law in 1994 .

That ban expired in 2004 and Congress has not renewed it.

Harris also called for universal background checks and the implementation of so-called red flag laws — state protective orders aimed at preventing certain people deemed a threat from buying or owning firearms.

“It’s a false choice to say you’re either pro-Second Amendment or you want to take away everybody’s guns,” Harris said. “I’m pro-Second Amendment and I know we need common sense gun safety laws in our country.”