Vice President Kamala Harris hugs Mayor Nancy Rotering in Highland Park, Illinois, on Tuesday as she visits the site of Monday’s mass shooting that left seven people dead and dozens injured.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
switch caption
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
Vice President Kamala Harris hugs Mayor Nancy Rotering in Highland Park, Illinois, on Tuesday as she visits the site of Monday’s mass shooting that left seven people dead and dozens injured.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
Speaking at a teachers’ conference in Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the July 4 mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, saying, “We need to end this horror. We need to stop this violence.”
Seven people were killed and dozens injured Monday when a gunman opened fire from a rooftop along a Fourth of July parade route in suburban Chicago.
Harris said July 4th “should have been a day to get together with family and friends” but ended in violence.
“We need to protect our communities from the terror of gun violence. I’ve said it before, enough is enough,” Harris told thousands of teachers gathered for the National Education Association convention.
“Our nation still mourns the loss of those 19 babies and their two teachers in Uvalde,” Harris said in a rising voice. “Teachers shouldn’t practice barricading a classroom. Teachers shouldn’t know how to treat a gunshot wound, and teachers shouldn’t be told lives would have been saved if only you had a gun,” she said.
Later Tuesday, at the invitation of Mayor Nancy Rotering, the vice president visited local officials, aid workers and residents of Highland Park.
“This can happen anywhere, in any peace-loving community, and we need to stand together and speak out about why it needs to stop,” Harris said in brief comments to media near the shooting scene.
Speaking to the NEA, Harris noted that Congress had taken some gun safety measures in the wake of Uvalde, which President Joe Biden signed into law, but she said more was needed.
“Congress must have the courage to act and renew the assault weapons ban,” Harris said.
“An assault weapon is designed to kill a lot of people quickly,” she said.
“There is no reason why we have weapons of war on the streets of America. We need reasonable gun safety laws,” she said.
Shortly after Monday’s shooting, Biden released a statement saying the law he signed 10 days earlier will save lives. “But there is still much more work to be done, and I am not going to give up the fight against the epidemic of gun violence.”