(DailyVantage.com) – Vice President Kamala Harris has doubled down on her push against gun violence, telling a crowd at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that the government will be allotting $750 million to help states push for and enact so-called “red flag” gun laws.
Red flag gun laws encompass a wide scope, depending on the states that impose them, but are basically legal preventive measures law enforcement officers can employ against armed individuals or groups that are deemed to be threats to public safety. One such example is a law in California that allows for the issuance of gun violence restraining orders (GVRO). A GVRO essentially restricts certain persons from owning or buying firearms, ammunition, firearm parts and accessories, and the like.
That the vice president made the announcement where she did was no accident. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was the site of a school shooting in 2018 that saw a gunman – a former student of the school with mental and behavioral problems – kill 17 people with a firearm he legally purchased. The school’s freshman building, where the violence occurred, has been kept up temporarily to be used for evidence for the criminal trial on the shooting, but is set to be demolished later this year.
The incident, Harris said should serve as a “motivation and inspiration” for stricter gun laws in America.
The $750 million, Harris said, would go towards the creation of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, which is aimed at providing technical assistance and training to states to help them put up red flag laws in their respective territories. The vice president said that currently, only 21 states have red flag laws in place, but only two have accepted financial assistance in their implementation from the federal government.
“I challenge the others: ‘Come on over,” Harris said, addressing state governments.
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