To mark Gun Violence Awareness Day, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about gun violence to the students and faculty at John R. Lewis High School in Springfield, Virginia, Friday afternoon.
“I’m so honored to be here …” Harris said. “Because you all are what this is all about. And we are so proud of you, and we care about you, and we want you to soar. And we have a deep and profound sense of responsibility to allow you to dream and to be, and to be safe.”
Lewis High School was one of several schools across the nation that received some type of shooting threat between January and the end of May.
“That’s why we are all here together today,” she continued. “And moms demand action, students demand action.
“So, we’re all here today for a simple reason: Every person and every child deserves the opportunity to fulfill their dreams and live up to their God-given potential. Every family, in every community, should have the freedom to live and to thrive. And we know none of that is possible – true freedom is not possible if people are not safe.”
Harris talked to the students about living in a civilized society should mean being able to go to school, go grocery shopping, hang out in the mall, walk down the street, etc., free from the fear of gun violence. She stopped occasionally to be heard over the thunderous applause.
She said the nation is being torn apart by gun violence and the fear of gun violence. She spoke of the tragedy that fearful parents say a prayer for their children every time they drop them off at school that their child will make it home safe and alive.
“It is tragic that every day in the United States of America, that there are parents who offer a prayer after dropping their child off at school that their child will make it home safe and alive, who fear the worst every time they see a text from their child’s school; children must take part in exercises throughout the school year in which they barricade them self in the classroom; kindergarten students practice lockdown drills and rehearse how to turn off the lights and hide quietly in a closet.
“And that, just last year, students at this school – and thousands of others across our nation – had to walk out of class simply to demand action to save lives,” Harris said, quoting a student’s expression. “All of this that leads to, as Jada has put it, and I quote, ‘a permanent state of fear and outrage’ for our students.
“And everyone here – because this is a room full of leaders – knows that in this moment in our country, the number one cause of death of the children in America is gun violence.
Harris noted other gun violence statistics affecting the nation:
• 1 in 5 Americans have lost a family member to gun violence.
• There have been over 260 mass shootings in the past 153 days.
• An average of 120 Americans are killed with guns every day.
• Black Americans are 10 times more likely to be victims of gun violence – Latino Americans, twice as likely.
“Folks, we cannot normalize any of this,” she insisted. “These are not just statistics or another headline. These are the lives of our children, of loved ones, of parents and siblings and our fellow Americans.
“Here in Virginia, it is a 6-year-old boy who has access to a gun and shoots and wounds his teacher just a few months ago in Newport News. It is the three student athletes who were shot and killed at UVA last fall. It is the 32 students and faculty who lost their lives at Virginia Tech.”
Reflecting on her years as a courtroom prosecutor and elected district attorney, she discussed having prosecuted homicide cases, seeing what a bullet does to the human body, having to hold the hands of parents who lost a child, and trying to comfort children who had been traumatized by the loss of a parent or a sibling.
Moreover, she said as someone who has fought her entire career to try to end this violence, she knew there were solutions and some of the answers are pretty straightforward. But it would require elected officials in the U.S. Congress and state legislatures to “simply exercise courage” and pass commonsense reforms. That would include knowing whether they have been found by a court to be a danger to themselves or others, background checks and red-flag laws.
She said that weapons of war were designed to kill a lot of people quickly and that was time to renew the assault weapons ban.
At the same time, she expressed that she did not agree that teachers should be required to carry firearms. She stated that teachers should focus on teaching.
“On the subject of gun safety laws, it is a false choice to suggest that we have to choose between either supporting the Second Amendment or passing reasonable gun safety laws,” Harris insisted. “We can do both.”
She went on to say that the majority of NRA members support background checks for all gun purchases. They just need leaders to be courageous and step up.
Moreover, Americans stood up and voted for lawmakers who supported commonsense gun reform, which led to Congress passing a significant piece of bipartisan federal gun safety legislation – the one first in 30 years.
“But let’s be clear: We have more to do. So, let us continue to fight, to make sure the voices of students and parents and teachers and preachers will not be silenced,” she added. “Let us make sure that the voice of the people will be heard, that the voice of the people will not be discouraged, will not be deterred and that we will not tire.
“Because the bottom line is this: We love our country. … And I believe, especially in this moment, that the strength of our nation depends on each of us, especially our young leaders. Especially you.
She began speaking directly to the students at Lewis High.
“I don’t need to tell you Congressman John Lewis fought his whole life for the civil rights of all people. I was so honored to work with him,” Harris said. “And I will tell you that I think we all do believe – I certainly do – that the right to be safe is also a civil right.
“So, to the young leaders, I don’t need to tell you, you know this: John Lewis was only 23 when he spoke during the March on Washington. And he was 76 when he led a sit-in at the U.S. House of Representatives to demand action to end gun violence. The great John Lewis taught us it is never too early or too late to join this fight.”
She recalled the students at Parkland High School who marched to save lives and inspired a national movement.
“Maxwell Frost was 15 when he joined the movement to end gun violence, and now he is the first Gen Z member of the United States Congress,” Harris illustrated. “And two of the most recent national heroes in this movement, the two expelled members of the Tennessee Three – the Justins are both in their 20s.
“So, to our young leaders, I say, ‘We hear you. We support you. And we need you.’ We are all in this together. And so, together, we must fight. And when we fight, we win. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.”