In his first two months as president, Joe Biden hasn’t been afraid to wield his pen in signing dozens of executive orders on actions related to health care, immigration, combatting racism, and more. But Vice President Kamala Harris made clear Wednesday morning that Biden would prefer not to go that route when it comes to gun control.

Two days after 10 people were gunned down in a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket and a week after eight people were killed in a shooting spree at three Atlanta-area spas, Harris said the Biden administration is not ready to give up on Congress passing stricter gun laws.  

“It is time for Congress to act and stop with the false choices,” Harris told CBS News in an interview on Wednesday. “This is not about getting rid of the Second Amendment. It's simply about saying we need reasonable gun safety laws. There's no reason why we have assault weapons on the streets of a civil society. They are weapons of war. They are designed to kill a lot of people quickly.”

Biden on Tuesday called on Congress to pass an assault weapon ban and close background-check loopholes.

The House passed two gun-related bills last week — one that would require background checks for all gun buyers, and another that would give the FBI more time to conduct background checks.

The legislation faces long odds in the Senate, but Harris said she is hopeful the bills can get the needed votes. 

“I'm not willing to give up on what we must do to appeal to the hearts and minds and the reason of the members of the United States Senate,” she said. “I served in that body, and I believe that it is possible. It has to be possible that people agree that these slaughters have to stop.”

Harris was not asked Wednesday if she’d support ending the filibuster — the Senate rule that requires 60 votes to advance certain legislation — in order to pass gun measures. 

If Congress does not pass new gun laws, Biden might have to settle for executive action. 

He’s been here before: After the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre — which left 26 people dead, including 20 children who were 6 and 7 years old, then-President Barack Obama tasked Biden with creating a legislative package of gun control measures, but Congress failed to pass any significant legislation. Obama later signed nearly two dozen relatively modest executive orders. 

“If we pass legislation, that's permanent,” Harris said. “If the Congress acts, then it becomes law. And that is what we have lacked.”

Harris, however, added, “I don't think the President is excluding” executive action.