Washington (CNN) California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris said the lack of federal action on gun legislation is due to a lack of follow through in Washington despite an abundance of available new policies.

"On this issue of the need for gun safety laws, we're not at any loss for good ideas," the 2020 presidential candidate said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union." "People have been having good ideas for decades on this issue. What we're at a loss is for people in Congress to have the courage to do something."

Harris, in the interview that aired Sunday, reaffirmed her call for new gun measures to curtail violence and pledged to take executive action shortly into her presidency should Congress not pass the measures she has demanded.

"If by my 100th day in office when elected president of the United States, the United States Congress fails to put a bill on my desk to sign with all of the good ideas or any of the good ideas that I'm prepared to take executive action because that's what's needed," Harris said.

Harris said the executive action would include requiring anyone who sells more than five guns a year to perform background checks and directing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) "to remove and take away the licenses of gun dealers who fail to follow the law."

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