Kamala Harris has made it an easy choice for gun owners on November 5. Harris has a decades-long track record of attacking the Second Amendment and supporting gun bans and gun confiscation.
Harris is an Anti-Second Amendment Extremist
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court decided District of Columbia v. Heller. The case concerned a challenge to Washington, D.C.’s total ban on handgun ownership. In overruling the ban, the Court made clear that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, including self-defense.
If it was up to Harris, Americans would not enjoy an individual right to keep and bear arms.
In 2008, Harris was the district attorney of San Francisco. In this capacity, Harris endorsed an amicus curiae brief of district attorneys in support of the District of Columbia and its handgun ban in the Heller case. In a January 2008 press release touting the brief, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office explained that Harris was “leading” this effort to support the unconstitutional handgun ban.
Advocating against the individual right to keep and bear arms, the brief argued,
courts have consistently sustained criminal firearms laws against Second Amendment challenges by holding that, inter alia, (i) the Second Amendment provides only a militia-related right to bear arms, (ii) the Second Amendment does not apply to legislation passed by state or local governments,
According to the document, the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right, but rather, the lower court in Heller “create[d]” this right. The brief stated,
The lower court’s decision, however, creates a broad private right to possess any firearm that is a “lineal descendant” of a founding era weapon and that is in “common use” with a “military application” today.
Anticipating the Supreme Court’s move in the next landmark Second Amendment case (McDonald v. Chicago (2010)), Harris’s brief stated that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms should not be incorporated to the states. Had this thinking been adopted, state and local governments would be empowered to curtail or even extinguish gun rights without restraint. State and local governments would have been able to bar their residents from owning any firearms whatsoever.
Harris’s extreme views on the Second Amendment are even more dangerous considering her willingness to pack the Supreme Court to secure her and her political allies’ preferred policy outcomes.
In a 2019 article titled, “Kamala Harris Says She’s ‘Open’ to Expanding Supreme Court,” Bloomberg reported,
“I am interested in having that conversation," [Harris] said in Nashua, New Hampshire, in response to a question about whether she favors adding as many as four seats to the court. "I’m open to this conversation about increasing the number of people on the United States Supreme Court.”
Further, in 2020, New York Times reporter Alexander Burns stated that Harris told him that she was interested in packing the Supreme Court. Burns was recorded stating, “Harris told me in an interview actually that she was absolutely open to doing that…”
There is every reason to believe that any Harris court packing scheme would involve installing a solid anti-Second Amendment majority to the Supreme Court that would work to eliminate recognition of the individual right to keep and bear arms.
Harris Supports Gun Confiscation
Harris has repeatedly expressed support for a mandatory gun “buyback” program where Americans would be forced to turn over their firearms to the government for a set price – in other words: gun confiscation.
Here is Harris supporting gun confiscation, in her own words:
- At a September 2019 campaign event, Harris told reporters that confiscating commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms was “a good idea.” Elaborating on her support for a compulsory “buyback” program, Harris added, “We have to work out the details -- there are a lot of details -- but I do…We have to take those guns off the streets.”
(Sahil Kapur, Kamala Harris Supports Mandatory Buyback of Assault Weapons, Bloomberg, September 6, 2019)
- On the September 16, 2019 episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Harris reiterated her support for gun confiscation. During a question-and-answer session, an audience member asked Harris “Do you believe in the mandatory buyback of quote-unquote assault weapons and whether or not you do, how does that idea not go against fundamentally the Second Amendment?”
The candidate responded, “I do believe that we need to do buybacks.” Making clear that she believes Americans’ Second Amendment rights are for sale, Harris added “A buyback program is a good idea. Now we need to do it the right way. And part of that has to be, you know, buy back and give people their value, the financial value.”
(The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, NBC, September 16, 2019, Watch the Video)
- On October 2, 2019, Harris called for gun confiscation during an MSNBC “gun safety forum.” During the event, Harris had the following exchange with MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin.
Melvin: As you know, the ‘94 assault weapons ban, it didn’t apply to weapons that were purchased before 1994. What would you do about the millions, specifically assault weapons, that are already in circulation? What do you do about those?”
Harris: Well, there are approximately 5 million, to your point Craig. We have to have a buyback program and I support a mandatory buyback program. It’s got to be smart, we got to do it the right way, but there are 5 million at least some estimate as many as 10 million and we’re going to have to have smart public policy that’s about taking those off the streets.
(2020 Gun Safety Forum, MSNBC, October 2, 2019, Watch the Video)
- On October 31, 2019, Harris called for gun confiscation at a public television candidates forum in Ankeny, Iowa. Responding to a question about gun control, Harris answered, “I support buybacks.” The forum moderator then asked Harris, “How mandatory is your gun buyback program?” Harris made clear, “It’s mandatory.”
(IPTV Presents Conversations with Presidential Candidates, Iowa PBS, October 31, 2019, Watch the Video)
Harris Supported a TOTAL Handgun Ban
In 2005, as San Francisco district attorney, the now-vice president was listed as a sponsor of Proposition H, which was a ballot measure that sought to ban the possession of ALL handguns in the city. While the measure was approved by far-left San Francisco voters, it was struck down by the courts after NRA challenged it.
To be clear, this was not a ban on the future sale or possession of handguns, it was a ban on ALL handguns, which means, had it stood, firearms would either have to be removed from the city or turned over to authorities (i.e., confiscated).
Moreover, in January 2006, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom sent a letter to the city Board of Supervisors requesting the maximum jailtime available under state law for those who violated the city handgun ban. Specifically, the letter read,
In accordance with Proposition H and in consultation with the Chief of Police, District Attorney, Sheriff and the City Attorney, we are calling for the maximum penalty under state law for city residents who violate this voter approved ordinance. (emphasis added)
Harris Advocated for Government Agents to Invade Gun Owners’ Homes to Inspect Legal Guns
During a May 16, 2007 press conference to promote San Francisco gun control legislation pushed by Mayor Gavin Newsom and DA Harris, the candidate advocated for government officials to have the power to intrude into law-abiding gun owners’ locked homes to inspect their firearm storage arrangements.
Harris stated,
We're going to require responsible behaviors among everybody in the community, and just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn't mean that we're not going to walk into that home and check to see if you're being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs.
It is difficult to overstate the impact of Harris’s proposal, were it to be implemented nationwide. Roughly half of American homes would be subject to government intrusion.
On November 21, 2023 NBC News published an article titled, “Poll: Gun ownership reaches record high with American electorate.” The article explained, “More than half of American voters -- 52% -- say they or someone in their household owns a gun, per the latest NBC News national poll.”
The Choice is Clear
On November 5, gun owners and other freedom-loving Americans have the power to reject Kamala Harris’s radical and dangerous anti-gun and anti-Second Amendment policies.
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