©Reuters. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a visit to St. Paul Health Center, a clinic that performs abortions, in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S., March 14, 2024. REUTERS/Nicole Neri/File Photo
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By Trevor Hunnicutt
PARKLAND, Florida (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrived on Saturday at the Florida high school where a gunman killed 17 people in 2018 as she aimed to push states to strengthen laws on confiscating firearms from high-risk people .
Harris was meeting with the victims’ families and walking the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where the killings occurred in a building that is scheduled to be demolished later this year.
As part of her visit, Harris will ask 29 of the 50 states that do not have “red flag” laws to pass them and will encourage another 15 states that do have the laws to begin using available federal funds to implement them, according to a White. House official.
The laws allow courts to issue “extreme risk protection orders” removing firearms from individuals deemed to be at risk of harming themselves or others.
Six U.S. states both have such laws and are using $750 million available under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 to implement crisis intervention programs, the official said.
Florida passed a “red flag” law after the 2018 shooting but did not use federal funding, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Parkland shooter, a former student there who was 19 at the time, had been seen for mental health issues. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
The building where the shooting occurred has remained largely unchanged since the 2018 shooting, with bloodstains and bullet holes still visible.
It looms eerily over the rest of campus behind a chain-link fence, where it can be seen as current students walk to their classes, and serves as a constant reminder of the tragedy.
President Joe Biden has made gun violence a key issue in his 2024 reelection bid and has tapped Harris, a former prosecutor, to oversee the initiative. Both traveled across the country to meet with people whose families died in mass shootings.
Some advocates believe red flag laws violate their constitutional right to bear arms, while gun safety advocates point to some studies showing the statutes can prevent some deaths.
According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine, the United States has the highest level of gun homicides among high-income countries with populations greater than 10 million.
Biden, a Democrat, wants Congress to pass a new ban on assault weapons and require background checks for all gun sales in the United States. Any measure will be difficult to pass in a divided Congress. Republican nominee Donald Trump has previously supported “red flag” laws but has opposed broader measures favored by Biden.