VP Harris Ducks and Dodges on Guns in Debate

September 11, 2024 News Wire

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

By Larry Keane

The first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump didn’t provide voters with much regarding a topic that is one of the most important issues to them as they consider which candidate they’ll support on Nov. 5: the Second Amendment.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have operated for three and a half years as the most hostile presidential administration against the firearm industry and the right to keep and bear arms. The vice president is talking on the campaign trail like she’ll continue that approach. Many believe she would be even more antigun, anti-industry as president than she is as the Biden administration’s “gun czar” leading The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention that is staffed by Everytown’s former top lobbyist.

It took more than 90 minutes before there was even a mention of firearms and it was the candidates who brought it up, not the transparently biased moderators. Voters will be looking for more as they rightfully have serious concerns about what a potential Harris administration would mean for law-abiding Americans and their Constitutional rights to purchase and possess firearms.

Surprise Gun Owner?

ABC News debate moderator Linsey Davis referenced the vice president’s flip-flopping on mandatory gun buybacks, which amount to confiscation, during one question that was more about changing policy positions generally than it was about the Second Amendment specifically.

Near the end of the debate, Davis asked, “You wanted mandatory buybacks for assault weapons. Now your campaign says you don’t,” Davis said before asking Harris why so many of her policy positions had changed, according to The Reload.

Vice President Harris didn’t address the question and was only forced to respond later to a criticism by former President Donald Trump warning voters that if elected, the vice president would have “a plan to confiscate everyone’s gun.” She jumped in with a comment that caught viewers’ attention.

“And then this business about taking everyone’s guns away, Tim Walz and I are both gun owners,” Vice President Harris stated. “We’re not taking anyone’s guns away. So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff.”

The vice president’s remark about being a gun owner drew attention. She practically never mentions being a gun owner in all her calls for more gun control and the only reference before is a glancing mention in a 2019 CNN interview. Not surprisingly, Second Amendment supporters were skeptical of her statement.

“So now Harris owns a gun? Ha, I’d love to know what kind/caliber and how often she trains with it,” competitive shooter, GunsOut TV founder and CNN commentator Shermichael Singleton posted on social media.

Podcast host and former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly jumped in, too. “KH: we’re not taking anyone’s guns away. Truth: She is literally on camera saying she supports a mandatory buy-back program.”

Kyle Smith posted on X about the vice president’s track record on gun confiscation as well.

“Um Harris did support mandatory gun confiscation aka ‘buybacks’ and the people deserve an explanation of why she has reversed course on this, ABC News.” Smith posted a Bloomberg News article after his comment with the headline “Kamala Harris Supports Mandatory Buyback of Assault Weapons.”

Outkick founder and sports and political commentator Clay Travis also added some important questions in his post about the remark. “Kamala owns a gun? Where does she keep it? Aren’t they illegal in DC? Has she ever talked about having a gun before? Genuinely curious.”

Pro-Second Amendment attorney Kostas Moros added a salient point. “Kamala Harris is why Californians couldn’t buy a modern handgun for a decade,” he posted.

And Ashley St. Clair posted about the hypocrisy of VP Harris’ remark. “Kamala Harris just said Trump is lying about her support of a mandatory gun buyback because she ‘is a gun owner’ The reality is, Kamala will get to keep the guns protecting her while she forces you to turn yours in. But don’t listen to me, listen to Kamala herself,” she posted while linking to a video of the vice president.

Crime Fact Check

Earlier in the debate, former President Trump brought up the fact that voters were still very concerned about crime while attacking the Biden-Harris administration track record on law enforcement and keeping Americans safe in their communities.

ABC News moderator David Muir jumped in to attempt to fact check the former president in real time, suggesting President Trump was wrong.

“President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is actually coming down in this country,” Muir falsely suggested. The former President didn’t let it slip, either.

“Excuse me, the FBI made defrauding statements. They didn’t include the worst cities,” former President Trump corrected. “They didn’t include the cities with the worst crime.”

That’s true and the former president was correct in fact-checking Muir. NSSF has reported on this in detail – nearly a third of America’s cities where most of the crime is being committed are no longer reporting crime statistics to the FBI.

It’s an important fact that deserved more attention in the debate as well as “self-defense” and keeping one’s family and home safe remains the top reason given for why Americans continue to buy firearms during an historic stretch.

Record of Concern

Americans who value their Second Amendment rights can make their voices heard at the ballot box on Nov. 5. There are estimates of 10 million hunters who remain unregistered to vote, and over 22 million Americans who purchased a firearm for the first time since the previous presidential election. That’s a tidal force in a close-polling election and NSSF urges everyone to #GUNVOTE®. Vice President Kamala Harris has a 20-plus-year fervently antigun record. Her top surrogates still vouch that she supports gun confiscation, upending the U.S. Supreme Court with antigun justices, “reimagining” the Constitution and would be more radical on gun control than she is right now as partner in the Biden-Harris administration.

Don’t Risk Your Rights™. #GUNVOTE on Nov. 5.

Larry Keane is Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association.

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