Vice President Kamala Harris declared the nation does not have “a moment to spare, nor do we have a life to spare” while speaking at a gun safety conference in Chicago on Friday – just a day after some of the country’s most prominent gun safety groups announced their joint endorsement of the Biden-Harris ticket. 

“We cannot let them get away with politicizing this or pretending that this is some intellectual, ideological debate when there is literally blood on the streets,” Harris said in a moderated discussion at the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund's annual conference. “The failure to act is not without consequence.” 

As is often the case with hot-button issues, the vice president encouraged those passionate about gun control to vote – this time arguing it is because addressing the topic comes down to the leadership of elected officials and the solutions don’t require “a whole lot of creativity.” 

“I very seriously responded to your question with my point about voting, because the reality of it is, so much of this issue can be addressed by commonsense, reasonable gun safety laws,” Harris said. “But we need elected leaders to have the courage to act.” 

She argued those "reasonable gun safety laws" included so-called "red flag laws," which allow law enforcement to petition a court to remove firearms from individuals considered to be a threat to themselves or others," a ban on certain military-style assault weapons and universial background checks. 

When asked a question from a member of the audience about the importance of young people’s voices on gun safety, the vice president stood up from her chair. 

“Your generation is critical,” she said. “ You are critical to this issue. We are counting on you. We need you.” 

Harris added when younger generations start to vote in high numbers, she sees this issue “changing completely.” 

“People like to legally use guns for hunting and things of that nature, and that's fine,” Harris continued in her response to the audience member’s question. “But what we're talking about is not about that, and you know the difference.” 

In June of last year, President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, marking the most sweeping and significant gun legislation to become law in decades.

The bipartisan compromise, forged by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., came in response to a series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school, and a racially motivated shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

The bill kept firearms from more domestic violence offenders, helped states put in place red flag laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged to be dangerous and toughened background checks for the youngest gun buyers. 

“The president will tell you if he were here – I will tell you: it is historic, and it is a drop in the bucket,” Harris said on Friday. “Because we still have so much more to do.”

One of those things the administration wants to do, Harris said, is renew the assault weapons ban – reiterating something Biden has repeatedly pushed for Congress to pass after a number of mass shootings this year. 

Congress passed an assault weapons ban in 1994 -- part of a bill then-Sen. Biden authored as a member of Congress -- but it expired nearly two decades ago. 

It will be difficult to pass any significant gun safety legislation in this session of Congress with the GOP in control of the House. Many Republicans argue that restricting gun access infringes on Constitutional rights and makes Americans less safe. 

On Thursday, some of the country’s most well-known gun safety groups announced they are endorsing Biden for re-election in 2024 – marking the first time the major groups have jointly thrown their weight behind a presidential candidate.

The groups include Brady, Community Justice Action Fund, Giffords and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and its grassroots networks Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.

In their endorsement, the groups specifically pointed to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act signed by Biden last year as well as his actions on so-called ghost guns and stabilizing braces. 

This week, the Supreme Court voted to reinstate a regulation Biden put in place regarding ghost guns after a federal judge in Texas invalidated the president’s law. Biden’s regulation will stay in place while his administration appeals the Texas judge’s ruling.