Kamala Harris told Oprah Winfrey that anyone who breaks into her home would be “getting shot” as she laughed in an exchange during a fundraising event for the Democratic presidential nominee. She followed up saying, “Probably should not have said that. My staff will deal with that later.”
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“I’m in favor of the Second Amendment and I’m in favor of assault weapons bans, universal background checks, red flag laws,” Harris said on Thursday at the “Unite for America” event. “These are just common sense.”
The discussion about gun ownership on Thursday is part of a broader Harris/Walz campaign strategy highlighting their stance on guns. The issue is contentious. About a third of U.S. adults own one, according to the Pew Research Center. But just this June, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declared firearm violence a public health crisis—citing mass shootings, suicide, and other firearm-related deaths as evidence.
Gun ownership came up at the presidential debate earlier this month. “Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away. So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff,” Harris said in response to Donald Trump’s claim that she would take away people’s guns.
Harris previously mentioned that she owned a gun during her 2020 bid for the Democratic presidential nominee. She revealed she owned a gun for personal safety. A Harris aide told CNN this month that her gun was a pistol tiny enough to fit in a small purse.
On her campaign website, as part of her goal to “ensure safety and justice for all,” Harris wrote that she would fight to combat gun violence. Harris has levied her role as a prosecutor and district attorney in California—during which she says she removed more than 12,000 illegal guns from the streets—as evidence of her hard stance on gun violence.
Harris also cited her role as the head of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, where she worked on policies to expand background checks and close loopholes. Harris said she would continue to “invest in funding law enforcement, including the hiring and training of officers and people to support them, and will build upon proven gun violence prevention programs that have helped reduce violent crime,” if she wins the presidency.
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