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Debate Sparks Questions About Harris' Stance on Gun Confiscation

VP has long history of supporting 'mandatory buyback programs'

Published: September 11, 2024
  |   By Adrian Norman
Debate Sparks Questions About Harris' Stance on Gun Confiscation

Last night’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump reignited questions about Harris’ stance on gun control.


During the debate, Harris addressed the issue: “And then this business about taking everyone’s guns away, Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We're not taking anybody's guns away, so stop with the continuous lying about this stuff.”


Walz, her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, supported her remarks, stating, “Kamala Harris and I are both gun owners. We’re not going to take away your Second Amendment rights — we’re going to prevent your kids from getting shot at school.”



Despite these reassurances, Harris has a record of supporting policies that go beyond gun safety regulations, including proposals for assault weapons bans and outright gun confiscation.


At a Las Vegas event, the “2020 Gun Safety Forum,” MSNBC host Craig Melvin questioned Harris about removing so-called “assault weapons” from American streets.


Harris responded: "We have to have a buyback program. 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 [assault weapons] 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 but doing it the right way."


While voluntary gun buyback programs have been used, Harris’ endorsement of a mandatory program signals a shift toward government-enforced confiscation.


Harris has made similar comments in the past.


In November 2019, when NBC News’ Harry Smith posed a question about a mandatory buyback program, Harris said, "Well, what we’ll do is have an incentive for people to turn them in and buy them back. But when we're talking about weapons of war, I mean, it literally is this simple. Five million assault weapons on the streets of America, period."



During a 2019 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Harris reiterated her position on gun control, asserting, “I do believe that we need to do buybacks,” before vowing to use executive orders to ban firearms if Congress doesn’t do so within the first 100 days of her administration.


“And, so, a buyback program is a good idea, now we need to do it the right way and part of that has to be buy back and give people their value, the financial value of what they have and not just take things from people that have value without compensating them. We need to do it the right way,” she added.



Harris was also a co-sponsor of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s “Assault Weapons Ban of 2019” legislation.

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