WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2023) US Vice President Kamala Harris after laying flowers at a memorial outside the site of a recent mass shooting in southern California said US lawmakers have the power and responsibility to act on gun control laws.
Harris' visit comes in the wake of a mass shooting at the Star Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, that left eleven dead and nine injured. It marked the first of three mass shootings in one week in the Golden State.
"We... need Congress to act," Harris said as quoted by the White House pool on Wednesday. "Understanding that to do so is to fully support the second amendment - but to understand we need reasonable gun safety laws."
Harris said Congress can accomplish something and whether they actually do will be up to Americans calling on elected officials.
"We will always, as a compassionate nation, mourn the loss... for those who survived and are recovering, but we must also require that leaders in our nation will have the ability and the power and the responsibility to do something," Harris added.
Harris said she met with the town mayor, the sheriff and members of families affected by the shooting and will soon meet with some first responders.
On Monday, a group of senators reintroduced a Federal Assault Weapons Ban and legislation that would raise the minimum purchase age for assault weapons to 21. President Joe Biden has called on Congress to immediately pass the legislation and deliver it to his desk.
Also on Monday, at least seven people were killed and one injured in a new mass shooting that occurred at two different locations in the city of Half Moon Bay, California, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office said.
Another lethal shooting was reported in Oakland, California on Monday evening that left at least one dead and several injured.
According to Gun Violence Archive analysts, there have already been about 40 mass shootings in the United States since the beginning of the year.
