Vice President Kamala Harris called for a ban on assault rifles at the funeral of Ruth Whitfield, the oldest victim of the shooting at the Tops Friendly supermarket in Buffalo, NY on May 14.
Whitfield, 86, was the last of the 10 victims to be buried on Saturday.
VP Harris was not scheduled to speak at Whitfield’s funeral on Saturday. She was invited to deliver remarks by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Harris said assault rifles and similar long guns have no place in a civil society.
“Let’s have an assault weapons ban. An assault weapon is a weapon of war with no place, no place in civil society,” she said.
“This is a moment that requires all good people, all God-loving people to stand up and say we will not stand for this,” she added.
“Enough is enough. We will come together based on what we all know we have in common, and we will not let those people who are motivated by hate separate us or make us feel fear.”
After the funeral, VP Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff placed flowers at a memorial at the site of the shooting.
Later Harris told reporters that the Biden administration is not “sitting around waiting to figure out what the solution looks like” to the nation’s gun violence problem.
“Background checks: Why should anyone be able to buy a weapon that can kill other human beings without at least knowing: Hey, that person committed a violent crime before, are they a threat against themselves or others?”
Harris’ remarks were well-received on Twitter. Many voters said, if Harris can convince lawmakers to ban assault weapons, she should be the first woman president of the US.
The Buffalo massacre and last week’s mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that claimed 21 lives were committed by troubled teenagers who legally purchased their weapons.
The Buffalo supermarket killer is charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bail.
The Uvalde, Texas shooter was finally gunned down an hour after he shot 32 people in two classrooms at Robb Elementary.
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