Vice President Harris will make two announcements on gun violence prevention efforts Saturday in Parkland, Florida, where 14 students and three staff members were killed in a school shooting in 2018.
Harris is scheduled to meet with the families of those killed in the shooting, and will visit Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) and other state officials. She is then scheduled to speak on gun safety at 2:45 p.m., a White House official said.
The Vice President will announce the launch of the first National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, designed to help states effectively enforce red flags through training and technical assistance. The center will be funded by a Department of Justice grant from the bipartisan gun control bill President Biden signed into law in 2022.
Harris also plans to issue a formal call to action for states to pass red flag laws and use resources from bipartisan gun control legislation to enforce them.
Red flag laws allow a judge to take away a firearm from someone based on suspicion that the owner might use it to harm themselves or others.
Six of the 21 states eligible for funding under the bill Biden signed in 2022 are accessing the dollars through a program for states that have approved red flag laws. Fifteen other states have red flag laws and are eligible for funding, but so far have not used funds from the program. Twenty-nine other states have not approved red flag laws and cannot access the funds.
In February, on the five-year anniversary of the Parkland shooting, Biden announced that the Justice Department would give more than $231 million to states for crisis intervention projects such as the Red Flag program.
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