One of the most notably absent topics of this year’s election fracas has been any discussion on firearms. Then enter Kamala Harris.
The moderators in the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden didn’t ask a single question touching on the divisive topic, nor did either candidate bring it up. Observers noted during the Republican National Convention that the party platform in other than a passing reference didn’t even mention guns. None of the speeches delivered during the four-day event did either short of vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance talking about how his grandmother once had 19 firearms hidden around her house, a humorous story likely meant to convey to the audience, “we love guns” without actually coming out and saying “we love guns.” But in her first speech as the presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee following Joe Biden’s endorsement of her after he exited the race, Harris was quick to trot the topic into the spotlight. And gunowners got a few of what they already knew, Harris is going to be no friend to the Second Amendment.
“That’s why we will work to pass universal background checks, Red Flag laws and an assault weapons ban,” Harris told staffers at campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, and streamed on YouTube. Her statements support a continuation of the current administration’s efforts at combatting gun violence by restricting overall gun ownership and a continuation of her own views that she expressed in the 2020 campaign when she was seeking to defeat Biden for the party nomination.
“Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress a hundred days to get their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws,” Harris told the audience during a 2019 CNN town hall. “If they fail to do it, then I will take executive action.”
As Vice President, Harris oversaw the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and played a significant role in several gun reform initiatives. These include a rule to reduce the number of guns sold without background checks, restrictions on gun exports, enhanced background checks for young buyers and the launch of a national center to support extreme risk protection order laws, as reported by The Trace.
Harris has a history of advocating for stringent gun control measures, often positioning herself even further to the left of Biden. During the 2020 primary, when she proposed using executive action to enforce stricter gun laws if Congress failed to act she declared her actions would include universal background checks, revoking licenses of gun manufacturers who break the law (based loosely on her interpretation of negligence and unfair trade practices), closing the “boyfriend” loophole to prevent domestic abusers from purchasing firearms and banning the “import” of AR-15-style assault weapons despite most companies making them in the U.S.
This approach contrasts sharply with the current Republican strategy, The Reload reports. As noted, Republicans recently dropped all previous gun policy promises from their platform and avoided discussing gun policy or the Second Amendment during the Republican National Convention. The truth is, that was probably a good thing gun rights wasn’t receiving attention, because it meant they weren’t being attacked either. Live and let live.
But now Harris’s statements in her opening speech serve as a shot across the bow and undoubtedly places a greater emphasis on gun rights and the gun debate as the election approaches. This will force the Republicans to formally take a stance as well, a stance most gun owners hope is already there and that Trump himself committed to during his speech at this year’s NRA Annual Meetings in May.
While Harris as the nominee is far from a done deal, in the days immediately following Biden’s bowing out of the race, no other challengers have stepped forward though a number were suggested prior to Biden’s exit. The problem the Democratic Party has should they veer away from Harris is one of severe optics. To give the nomination to a man or a white person could alienate those progressives within the party, as well as their supporters, who are eager to see a woman, especially a woman of color in a high position. It would also confirm what many people both inside and outside the party suspect, Harris was chosen as Biden’s VP not for her leadership credentials, but because of the woke boxes she checked off in an election that was going to go down to the wire. She was indeed the weakest candidate among a crowded field vying for the 2020 party candidacy was among the early ones to drop out, suspending her race before the primaries even began.
One thing remains true. Whether it is Harris or any other candidate who ultimately faces off against Donald Trump in November, to be the Democratic nominee, they are going to have to support gun control, which still leaves only one choice for gun owners come election time—and that choice is Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
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