A mission of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which Harris oversees, is to coordinate federal support for communities impacted by gun violence

By Nicole Gaudiano

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about gun violence prevention on Thursday but with a surprising omission: Uvalde, Texas.

Harris, who oversees the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, took the stage for a moderated conversation at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., shortly after Attorney General Merrick Garland’s dramatic press conference on the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.

At times holding back tears, Garland described a “series of major failures” that his department found during an investigation into the police response to the shooting, resulting in 21 deaths.

But Harris, during a conversation about gun violence prevention, did not mention the DOJ’s damning report. Her staff did not respond when asked why.

Part of the mission of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which Harris oversees, is to coordinate federal support for communities impacted by gun violence. The office was established in September, after the Uvalde shooting.

President Joe Biden, in his statement on the DOJ report, described “multiple points of failure that hold lessons for the future.” He said his team would work with the Justice Department and Department of Education to implement policy changes to help communities respond more effectively in the future.

Harris wasn’t asked about Uvalde during the forum. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who moderated the discussion, focused the questions on what she learned about gun violence during her college tour and her recommendations for mayors to help tackle the epidemic. But the forum gave her latitude to provide detailed responses.

She predicted there would be a “sea change” on the issue of gun violence once GenZ starts voting in force.

She also reiterated that it’s a “false choice” to suggest that either you’re in favor of the 2nd Amendment or that you want to take everyone’s guns away.

“I’m in favor of the 2nd Amendment,” she said. “But is it not reasonable that we would have an assault weapons ban, understanding that assault weapons were literally designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly, and are weapons of war with no place on the streets of a civil society?”

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Kamala Harris Omits Uvalde During Gun Violence Prevention Discussion