Harris stresses need for ‘lasting’ congressional action on guns

Vice President Harris on Wednesday stressed the need for congressional action on gun laws in the wake of mass shootings in Colorado and Atlanta.

“If we really want something that is going to be lasting, we need to pass legislation,” Harris said in an interview with “CBS This Morning.”

President Biden is not dismissing the possibility of taking executive action, Harris said, but she acknowledged Congress would need to act for additional measures like background checks to become permanent.

“If the Congress acts, then it becomes law, and that is what we have lacked,” she said. “That is what has been missing. We need universal background checks. You know, various states have done it, but there’s no universal approach to this.”

Harris called it a “false choice” to suggest that enacting stronger gun laws meant the administration was looking to take away Americans’ guns. She also swiped at Republican lawmakers, such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who said in the aftermath of the Colorado shooting this week that stronger gun laws wouldn’t have prevented the massacre.

“Every time there is a slaughter, a mass shooting, someone who does not want to be accountable for what we need to do says, ‘Well that wouldn’t have prevented that thing,'” Harris said.

#EXCLUSIVE: @VP @KamalaHarris joins @CBSThisMorning to discuss the recent mass shootings in the U.S. and the Biden administration’s plan to tackle gun control. pic.twitter.com/FBNhqh84sb

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 24, 2021

Ten people were killed at King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo., on Monday, including a police officer responding to the scene. Authorities arrested a 21-year old suspect, who faces 10 counts of murder in the first degree, police said Monday. The victims range in age from 20 to 65, police said.

The Boulder shooting comes just one week after a gunman killed eight people in Georgia, including six Asian women. That shooting, which also brought White House flags to half-staff, renewed concerns about violence against Asian Americans, which has been sharply on the rise during the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden on Tuesday called on the Senate to “immediately pass” two House-passed bills that would expand background checks for firearm sales. He also urged Congress to pass a law reinstating a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.