Kamala Harris slams Congress for lack of gun-control legislation

While fielding a question about gun violence during a CNN Town Hall appearance on Monday, presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris called out Congress for the lack of gun-control legislation. She even suggested using “harsh” means to encourage Congress to introduce a new bill.

Harris began her comments on gun reform by saying, “You can be in favor of the Second Amendment and also understand that there is no reason in a civil society that we have assault weapons around communities that can kill babies and police officers.”

Harris shamed Congress for not introducing a bill following a 2011 assassination attempt on then Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The Arizona congresswoman was shot in the head, and six bystanders were fatally shot.

Harris blasted Giffords’s colleagues, saying, “The people who work with her every day, who know her — you know, we have colleagues. We know them. We know their children. We break bread. We share holiday moments with them. The people who knew her didn’t act.”

Harris became even more impassioned while discussing Congress’s inaction after the 2012 school shooting in Sandy Hook, Conn., that took the lives of 20 children aged 6 and 7.

“I think somebody should have required all those members of Congress to go in a room, in a locked room, no press, nobody else, and look at the autopsy photographs of those babies,” she said. “And then you vote your conscience.”

The senator’s response resonated with many viewers, with one person tweeting, “Truly blown away by the answer that Kamala Harris just gave on gun violence.”

There was no direct response to Harris’s statements, but in 2018 National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre suggested using armed guards instead of gun control to curb the problem, saying, “Evil walks among us, and God help us if we don’t harden our schools and protect our kids.”

Regardless, Harris made it clear who she holds accountable for the continued gun violence in our nation.

“We’re not waiting for a tragedy,” she said. “We have seen the worst human tragedies we can imagine. So what’s missing? What’s missing is people in the United States Congress to have the courage to act the right way.”

The town hall took place Monday in Des Moines, Iowa, and was broadcast live by CNN at 7 p.m.

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