On Sunday (July 10), during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Vice President Kamala Harris called that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban to be reinstated.
Discussing her visit to Highland Park, Illinois, where a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle killed seven and injured 46 after opening fire on a Fourth of July parade, Harris pointed to the “impact this gun violence is on a community.”
“When you meet with first responders, when you meet with families of these victims, you cannot avoid the reality of what the impact of this gun violence is on a community,” Harris said.
The Vice President then blamed the mass shootings across the country “because those weapons are available,” adding, “we have to stop allowing those weapons to be available to civilians living in communities of people who have a right to believe that they are not in a war zone.”
Harris then claimed, “Assault weapons were specifically and intentionally designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly.”
The Vice President then highlighted what assault rifles do to the human body before stating that it was “outrageous” that Congress, which isn’t “pulling something out of our hat,” couldn’t “renew the assault weapons ban.”
She also emphasized that support for the Second Amendment wasn’t mutually exclusive, stating, “I support the Second Amendment, but we should agree we should not have weapons of war on the streets of America.”
The Federal Assault Weapon Ban, which expired in 2004, banned 19 types of semi-automatic firearms, which possessed two or more features, including detachable magazines, sound suppressors, and pistol grips. During the ban, the maximum capacity of a magazine was limited to 10 rounds.
