https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/28/politics/kamala-harris-assault-weapons-ban-bu...Harris calls for assault weapons ban after back-to-back mass shootings
DJ Judd
Devan Cole byline
By Donald Judd and Devan Cole, CNN
Updated 2016 GMT (0416 HKT) May 28, 2022
Washington (CNN)Vice President Kamala Harris called for an assault weapons ban Saturday, saying that in the wake of two back-to-back mass shootings such arms are "a weapon of war" with "no place in a civil society."
"On the issue of gun violence, I will say, as I've said countless times, we are not sitting around waiting to figure out what the solution looks like. You know, we're not looking for a vaccine," Harris told reporters in Buffalo, New York, after attending the funeral for a victim of a mass shooting there earlier this month. "We know what works on this. It includes, let's have an assault weapons ban."
"You know what an assault weapon is? You know how an assault weapon was designed?" she continued.
"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 comments from the vice president come as the nation is reeling from both Buffalo, where 10 people were killed in a racist mass shooting at a supermarket, and from a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, earlier this week in which 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman.
Harris, who has previously called for an assault weapons ban, also on Saturday called for enhanced background checks for firearm purchases, noting that, to date, there have been over 200 mass shootings in the country, despite being "barely halfway through the year."
"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 said.
Harris did not respond to a reporter's question on whether President Joe Biden would pursue an executive order if Congress failed to pass meaningful gun reform. The President said during a trip to Buffalo last week that there was "not much on executive action" that he could do to further strengthen gun control measures. He said he needed to instead "convince Congress" to pass legislation like the 1994 assault weapons ban.