Vice President Kamala Harris struggled with how best to reduce the number of handguns on the streets, which are responsible for the vast majority of murders in the United States.
At a meeting with the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia, Harris was asked about handguns. Moderator Tonya Mosley noted that handguns are used in 59 percent of murders in the United States and that her proposed ban on assault rifles is only a small part of the problem.
“I have also been adamant for years and I myself protested at a gun show about 10-15 years ago about the loophole in the gun show law and the need to close it,” Harris said, struggling to come up with a precise answer.
The vice president did not provide exact details about her protest, but according to a local newspaper in 2007 reportHarris, then San Francisco’s district attorney, joined fellow Democratic Party members in a protest against a gun show scheduled for two days later.
Kamala Harris struggled to answer a question about handguns at an event with reporters
Most community gun shows require all gun dealers to conduct background checks on their customers. However, gun control advocates warn that people who bring their own weapons to gun shows can sell them to other attendees without a background check.
Harris said she would seek to implement universal background checks for people buying guns, but she had no specific comment on the prevalence of handguns available to criminals in the United States.
She began to recall the murder cases she had handled during her career in California, reminding the audience that mothers of murdered children insisted they wanted to talk about their cases “only with Kamala.”
“We have to take this seriously in every way possible, realizing that this is not just a catchphrase, but a comprehensive approach that addresses the tragedy of, as you say, gun violence in America every day,” she said.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris Vice, left, is interviewed by National Association of Black Journalists members Gerren Keith Gaynor, far right, Eugene Daniels, second from right, and Tonya Mosley.
When pressed by the moderator for specific measures to control guns, Harris recalled that she and the Biden administration had approved more funding for mental health professionals in public schools.
Harris has long supported a strict ban on assault rifles, specifically a mandatory government-sponsored buyback program for guns already owned by American citizens.
The vice president reminded the crowd that she is a gun owner and has no intention of taking away Americans’ guns, despite supporting a ban on assault rifles like the AR-15 and AK-47.