The Biden administration is renewing its push for stricter gun control and an assault weapons ban with the creation of a new national office to push “red flag laws.”
Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Parkland, Florida, on Saturday and toured the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of a 2018 mass shooting in which a former student of the school killed 14 students and three staff members and wounded 17 others. After the tour, Harris delivered a speech pushing legislation on gun control.
“You know, part of what I talk to families about is the fact that one of five families in America has a family member that has died because of gun violence,” Harris said, according to Fox News. “That the leading cause of death for the children of America is gun violence.”
A report from Pew Research last year found that gun-related deaths among teens jumped by about 50% between 2019 and 2021. One expert said that the data suggested that the rise in gun deaths is closely tied to an increase in juvenile crime during the COVID pandemic and lockdowns.
Harris did not discuss the impact of lockdown policies but instead focused on firearms and echoed President Joe Biden’s calls for an assault weapons ban and other gun control measures. She also promoted a new office, the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, to aid states that have passed red flag laws. The Department of Justice announced the launch of the center on Saturday morning.
“We have to understand the facets of this and when we do reflect and review and, dare I say, study what happened here at Stoneman Douglas, we must be willing to have the courage to say that on every level, whether you talk about changing laws or changing practices and locales, that we must do better,” she said.
“Of the 21 that have passed red flag laws, I challenge the others to come on over,” Harris said. “We got some resources for you to help you implement the work that you have done that has been the work of a leader on this tragic issue.”
In general, red flag laws authorize courts to temporarily restrict a person’s access to firearms after receiving a complaint about the individual’s mental state or concerns that the person may have violent tendencies.
According to the White House, the Biden administration has allocated $750 million toward funding red flag law programs, crisis intervention programs, mental health courts, and other state-level actions. The Department of Justice has awarded just $238 million of the funds since 2021.
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Former President Donald Trump, the presumed Republican candidate against Biden in 2024, promised in a speech last month to roll back Biden’s actions on firearms.
“Every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated on my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day,” Trump told the crowd at a National Rifle Association event.