VP Harris on Highland Park shooting: ‘We need to end this horror’

Speaking to a National Education Association gathering in Chicago, just miles from Highland Park, Ill., where a gunman killed seven people during a Fourth of July parade, Vice President Kamala Harris said “we need to end this horror” of gun violence.

Video Transcript

KAMALA HARRIS: Before I start with my address to you, I want to just briefly but importantly address the tragedy just miles away in Highland Park. As we all know, yesterday should have been a day to come together with family and friends to celebrate our nation's independence. And instead, that community suffered a violent tragedy.

Children, parents, grandparents victims to a senseless act of gun violence. And Doug, who is here with me, he and I, of course, we mourn, as you do, for those who were killed. And we pray for those who were injured. And we all grieve, I know, for the lives that are forever changed in that community, including, of course, the students and the teachers of that community who have suffered great loss. And I don't need to tell NEA-- we need to end this horror. We need to stop this violence.

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And we must protect our communities from the terror of gun violence. You know, I've said it before-- enough is enough.

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I mean, here we are and our nation is still mourning the loss of those 19 babies and their two teachers in Uvalde. This massacre was the most recent reminder in Uvalde of the risks that our children and our educators face every day. Teachers should not have to practice barricading a classroom.

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Teachers should not have to know how to treat a gunshot wound.

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And teachers should not be told that lives would have been saved if only you had a gun.

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