Wednesday 6 July 2022 01:45 AM Kamala visits Highland Park a day after July 4 parade massacre trends now
Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise stop to the scene of Monday's Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois after delivering remarks in Chicago Tuesday calling for an assault weapons ban.
Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff greeted local officials nearby where a shooter killed seven people who were attending the Chicago suburb's Fourth of July parade.
'We're here for you and we stand with you,' Harris told police and other officials gathered near the crime scene. 'And of course as we always say - because it is true - our prayers are with you.'
Strollers, children's bikes and other toys were still scattered along the brick sidewalk, where they were left Monday when the gunman started shooting.
'There's a lot of healing that's going to have to happen that is both physical and emotional,' the vice president continued. 'There is no question that this experience is going to linger in terms of the trauma - so I'd like to urge all the families and all of the individuals to seek the support that you so rightly deserve.'
'We've gotta be smarter as a country in terms of who has access to what and, in particular, assault weapons,' Harris went on. 'And we've got to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are because you've been forced to have to take it seriously.'
Harris had just spoken at the National Education Association's annual meeting in Chicago where she addressed the July 4 shooting, but also remarked that '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,' she told the teachers union membership.
'Teachers should not have to practice barricading a classroom. Teachers should not have to know how to treat a gunshot wound. And teachers should not be told that lives would have been saved if only you had a gun,' Harris said, earning
