Vice President Kamala Harris, who will likely become the Democratic nominee without receiving any primary votes, has walked back past comments she made about confiscating guns from law-abiding American citizens.
Harris— who was rated to be more liberal than progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)— is one of the biggest threats to the Second Amendment, even suggesting she doesn’t believe that Americans should have the right to own a gun in the first place.
In September 2019, Harris, like President Joe Biden, told reporters that she supported the confiscation of commonly owned semi-automatic firearms, calling it “a great idea.”
She said that if Congress refuses to act, then she would take executive action to take away the rights of gun owners in the U.S.
“You have no constitutional authority to issue that executive order, the ones they’re talking about. ‘I’m going to eliminate assault weapons’ — can’t do it by executive order any more than Trump can do the things he’s saying he can do by executive order,” Biden said during an August 2019 press conference.
Remember when Kamala Harris said she would pass an executive order for mandatory gun confiscation in her first 100 days?
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 30, 2024
It would be a shame if this clip went viral…
pic.twitter.com/wc4rrzqr1I
Less than a year ago, in October 2023, Harris praised Australia’s 1996 semi-automatic gun ban and strict firearm confiscation policy, alluding that if she were to take office, similar policies would be enforced in the U.S.
Harris, then-2020 presidential candidate, also signaled her support for a “buyback” program and for “giving people their value, the financial value.”
However, earlier this week, the Harris campaign retracted the Democrat candidate’s statement, saying that Harris “no longer wants to force millions of Americans to sell their AR-15s and similar firearms to the government.” Instead, her campaign said she only supports banning the sale of AR-15s and similar guns in the future.
Harris spokesperson Lauren Hitt reiterated the vice president’s support for red flag laws, universal background checks, and an assault weapons ban.
In her first scripted speech after Biden was forced out of the 2024 race, Harris’ gun control measures followed the path that the president laid out earlier this year. She said that she “believes in the freedom to live safe from gun violence.”