US Vice-President and presidential aspirant Kamala Harris recently expressed her willingness to use her firearm for self-defense during a lighthearted exchange with Oprah Winfrey in a livestreamed event in Michigan. “If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot,” she stated, eliciting laughter from the audience. She quickly added, “I probably shouldn’t have said that, but my staff will deal with that later.”
Harris, who has publicly acknowledged her status as a gun owner, restated her support for a ban on assault weapons. She described such firearms as “literally designed to be a tool of war” and emphasized that they “have no place on the streets of a civil society.” When Winfrey inquired if she had owned a gun for “a while,” Harris confirmed that she had.
While discussing her views, Harris reaffirmed her commitment to the Second Amendment, which protects the right to gun ownership. The event, which attracted around 300,000 viewers, also covered various topics including immigration and the economy, featuring appearances from celebrities like Jennifer Lopez.
Harris’s gun ownership has been known since 2019, when she explained, “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 last week’s presidential debate against Republican rival Donald Trump, where it was highlighted for the first time in the 2024 election cycle.
In response to Trump’s claim that she would “confiscate everybody’s gun” if elected, Harris clarified that both she and her running mate, Tim Walz, who is an avid hunter, own firearms. Notably, Trump has also owned three guns but faced legal restrictions on two after criminal charges in New York.
As the November election approaches, Harris’s opponents have increasingly pointed to the gun issue as evidence of her evolving policy positions. During last week’s debate, it was noted that Harris no longer supported a “buyback” program for assault-style weapons. Nonetheless, she rephrased her call for stricter gun laws during her conversation with Winfrey, stating, “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.”
Red-flag laws allow individuals to petition a judge to confiscate firearms from someone deemed a risk to themselves or others, and Harris has voiced her support for such measures as part of her broader gun control agenda.
