Kamala Harris praises Australian gun laws after horror mass shooting in Maine

Vice-President Kamala Harris has praised Australia’s tight gun control policies as the US came to terms with another horrific mass shooting, in the small north eastern state of Maine.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks alongside US Vice-President Kamala Harris during a State Luncheon hosted by at the State Department in Washington, DC. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

US Vice-President Kamala Harris has praised Australia’s tight gun control policies at a State Department lunch in Washington in honour of Anthony Albanese, as the US came to terms with another mass shooting, in the small north eastern state of Maine.

As police continued their search for the gunman, who remained on the run after killing at least 18 people and wounding another 30 on Thursday AEDT, the Vice-President acknowledged Australia’s gun control reforms introduced after the Port Arthur massacre, which are often held up as model by Democrats in the nation’s perennial debate of gun rights.

“Gun violence has traumatised and terrorised our communities. It doesn’t have to be this way, as our friends in Australia have ­demonstrated,” Ms Harris said, flanked by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Prime Minister, who looked emotional as she spoke.

Mr Albanese, in what were his last set of formal public remarks during his four-day trip to the US capital, passed on his condolences to those affected by what was the worst massacre in the US this year, leaving the town of Lewiston, Maine’s second largest, riven with grief and fear.

“It is the case that we will every time there is one of these events and are grateful that Australia did act in a bipartisan way after Port Arthur massacre in Australia, and my heart goes out to those who will be grieving today,” he said, ­referring to the tough gun control law pushed through by the Howard government in 1996.

A photo of the armed suspect in a shooting as law enforcement in Androscoggin County investigate “two active shooter events” in Lewiston, Maine. Picture: Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office/AFP

The audience included Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, US ambassador Caroline Kennedy, former house Speaker Nancy Pelosi, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and the President’s top Indo-Pacific adviser, Kurt Campbell.

Senior Australian business figures, including Macquarie bank chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake and BlueScope Steel chief executive Mark Vassella, were dotted throughout the hall, which appeared filled to its 375-seat capacity.

The massacre in Maine cast a shadow over the final day of the Prime Minister’s visit in what was a successful jam-packed trip, which included extensive meetings with President Joe Biden, his cabinet and senior congressmen, and other administration representatives.