After two mass shootings in the United States in just over a week,  Vice President Kamala Harris made an impassioned plea — “these slaughters have to stop” — and called for Congress to act.

“We should first expect the US Congress to act,” the vice-president said on the CBS This Morning program. “I’m not willing to give up on what we must do to appeal to the hearts and minds and the reason of the members of the US Senate.”

As we wrote yesterday, two gun safety bills have been passed by the Democratic-controlled House, but are now stalled in the Republican-held Senate.

“We are seeing tragedy after tragedy after tragedy,” Harris said.

 

 

She called on voters and activists to keep the pressure up on Congress to impose universal background checks for gun purchases, a broadly popular proposal.

“Let’s say that we’re going to hold our elected people accountable if they’re not gonna be with us on what we need in terms of reasonable gun safety laws,” Harris said.