Kamala Harris' recent comment on owning guns and "shooting" if anyone breaks into her house has gone viral. During an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harris in a light tone picked the topic of gun control in US and went on to state that she supports ban on assault weapons.
"If somebody breaks into my house, they're getting shot," Harris said during a livestreamed event in Michigan with host Oprah Winfrey on Thursday.
Harriss could further be seen breaking into a laughter and adding, "I probably shouldn't have said that, but my staff will deal with that later."
"A firearm like that was literally designed as a tool of war," Harris told Winfrey. "It has no place in a civil society."
Her opponents have increasingly criticized Harris's stance on guns, suggesting it reflects her changing policy positions as the November election approaches.
Gun control has been a divisive issue in the US but in the run up to this year's election, other issues were in the spotlight. It was during the Trump Harris debate that this came up and has been discussed publicly by the politicians.
Kamala Harris’s gun ownership has been publicly known since 2019, when she reportedly stated, “I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do – for personal safety. I was a career prosecutor.”
However, her gun ownership gained renewed attention during her recent debate with Republican candidate Donald Trump. During this exchange, Harris refuted Trump’s claim that she would "confiscate everybody's gun" if elected, emphasizing that both she and her running mate, Tim Walz, an avid hunter, own firearms.
Trump, according to BBC report has owned three guns but recently faced legal issues that required him to surrender two of them and placed restrictions on the third due to criminal charges in New York.
This back-and-forth highlighted differing views on gun ownership and regulation between the candidates, adding another layer to the ongoing national debate on gun control.
Harris speaking on the issue at a rally in North Carolina, said, "We who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence will finally pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and red-flag laws."
So-called red-flag laws allow people to apply to a judge to confiscate another person's gun if they are deemed to be a risk to themselves or others, she reportedly explained.
Gun Buybacks
Gun buyback proposals would require gun owners to surrender their AR-15s and other assault-style weapons to the government.
These proposals gained traction during the last Democratic presidential primary, with support from prominent figures like Kamala Harris, who advocated for removing assault weapons "off the streets" in a responsible manner.
While buyback initiatives have been implemented in various U.S. cities since the 1970s, research suggests they are often costly and ineffective on their own in reducing gun violence.
