Vice President Kamala Harris is taking the lead on the campaign trail this week on the issue of gun violence prevention, drawing a sharp contrast between President Joe Biden’s efforts to combat gun violence and Donald Trump’s plan to blow the issue off entirely.
Harris, who oversees the White House’s first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention, will lead a trio of events. On Friday, which is National Gun Violence Awareness Day, the vice president will host a Students For Biden organizing call to mobilize young voters and highlight the dangers of Trump’s approach to gun violence.
Also on Friday, the vice president will team up with Angela Alsobrooks, the Maryland Senate Democratic nominee, for a campaign event marking Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Meanwhile, Harris will participate in a Thursday conversation at the White House about gun violence prevention, per the White House’s week ahead guidance.
Across the events, the vice president will highlight the high stakes of the November election when it comes to gun violence prevention, per the Biden campaign.
Specifically, she will point to Biden signing the first major bipartisan gun safety law in 30 years. This law has made it possible to close the so-called gun show loophole and to hire thousands of mental health counselors in schools.
By contrast, Trump, who is a convicted felon and barred from owning a gun, has bragged that he “did nothing” as president to address gun violence. In January, in the days after a deadly mass shooting at an Iowa elementary school, Trump said people need to “get over it.”
The GOP presidential hopeful has aligned himself with the gun lobby. He was recently endorsed by the National Rifle Association.
Harris has made gun violence prevention one of her priority issues as vice president. In April, she announced plans to close the gun show loophole, which allows people to bypass a background check when purchasing firearms at gun shows or online. The Biden administration is working on expanding the requirements for background checks.
On the campaign trail, Harris has gone after Trump on the issue. She called his response to the Iowa school shooting “unconscionable,” and in March, she visited the site of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and pushed for strengthening laws aimed at restricting firearms from high-risk people.