Joe Biden on assault rifles: “It’s time to ban them”

The shooter used an AR-15 in the attack on Trump, Biden said at a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada. So many people, including children, have been killed with this weapon. “It’s time to ban it.”

Praise for Harris

Efforts to tighten gun laws have been in vain for years – mainly because the Republicans are against them and because the gun lobby vehemently opposes any attempt to regulate gun ownership more strictly. In his campaign speech to black voters, Biden also openly praised the achievements of his deputy, Kamala Harris. “Not only is she a great vice president, she could also be president of the United States,” said the Democrat at a meeting of the civil rights movement NAACP in Las Vegas. The 81-year-old has so far been rather reserved in publicly praising his vice president. At several points in his speech, he highlighted what he and Harris had achieved together for the country.

With his comments, Biden was probably trying to score points with the black electorate. Harris is the first black woman to be sworn in as US Vice President. Her father once immigrated from Jamaica to study economics. Her mother – a cancer researcher and civil rights activist – came from India. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is one of the oldest organizations of the black civil rights movement in the USA.

The comments are also interesting in light of the current debate about Biden’s suitability as the Democratic presidential candidate. When discussions about a possible Biden replacement began, the name of Biden’s vice president, who had remained conspicuously pale in office, was not the first to come up. But the Democrats’ eyes increasingly turned to Harris. Some of her party colleagues began to publicly praise the 59-year-old’s performance.