US Vice President Harris visits Parkland shooting site, pushes new gun laws

PARKLAND, Florida: US Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday remembered the victims of a 2018 mass shooting at the Florida high school where a gunman killed 17 people, pushing for states to strengthen laws on seizing firearms from high-risk people.

“We have a duty to remember and a duty to bear witness to what happened here,” Harris said, referring to wounds both visible and unseen. “We must do better.”

After walking the halls of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School building in Parkland, where the murders happened and which is no longer in use, Harris spoke with 13 relatives of victims standing behind her, some holding photos.

As part of her visit, Harris called for 29 of the 50 states that have no “red flag” laws to pass them and encouraged 15 more states that have the laws to start using available federal funds to implement them.

The laws allow courts to issue “extreme risk protection orders” removing firearms from individuals considered at risk of harming themselves or others.

Six US states both have such laws and are tapping $750 million available under the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to implement crisis intervention programs.

Florida approved a red flag law after the 2018 shooting but has not used the federal funding, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.