Kamala Harris threatens to shoot home intruders during event with Oprah Winfrey
Kamala Harris stressed that she is a gun owner and that she will shoot if anyone tries to sneak into her home.
The vice president made the statement in an attempt to burnish her credentials as a “common sense” gun control candidate during her 90-minute livestream fundraiser with Oprah Winfrey.
“If someone breaks into my house, they’ll get shot,” she said, then let out her signature laugh.
She then expressed regret, similar to how her boss Joe Biden would try to take back stupid statements: “I probably shouldn’t have said that. My staff will work on that later.”
The statement made headlines on social media and was immediately condemned by the National Rifle Association, which accused her of being a “walking contradiction.”
Kamala Harris confirmed she is a gun owner and will shoot if anyone tries to sneak into her home
The vice president made the statement in an attempt to burnish her credentials as a “common sense” gun control candidate during her hour-and-a-half livestream fundraiser with Oprah Winfrey
Harris said she and her vice presidential running mate, Tim Walz, are both gun owners and that they will find middle ground on the issue.
“I think some people have been making the wrong choice for far too long when it comes to gun violence. They say either they’re pro-Second Amendment or they want to take guns away from everybody,” she said.
“I am pro-Second Amendment, pro-assault rifle bans, pro-universal background checks, pro-red flag laws,” she added.
Conservatives accused her of hypocrisy on this point, as she wanted the best of both worlds.
Others began photoshopping images of Harris with a gun.
Winfrey also published an interview with a family involved in the shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia earlier this month.
The legendary talk show host opened the hour-and-a-half livestream by introducing a who’s who of Hollywood A-listers, including Bryan Cranston, Chris Rots, Ben Stiller, Jennifer LopezTracy Ellis Ross, Julia Roberts And Meryl Streep.
“I’m smiling from ear to ear, Oprah,” said Cranston of Breaking Bad. “I’ve never felt so much joy and optimism in a campaign in a long time.”
The statement made headlines on social media, including an immediate condemnation from the National Rifle Association, which accused her of being a “walking contradiction.”
But with Winfrey at the helm of production, there were also some touching moments, such as the introduction of the mother of the first woman to die from a preventable abortion since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Sitting in In front of a studio audience in the swing state of Michigan, Winfrey introduced Shanette, the mother of Amber Nicole Thurman, who died in August 2022 after doctors were unable to perform an operation on her for 20 hours.
ProPublica published a report this week we’re telling Thurman’s story and calling her the first “preventable” death since the Dobbs verdict.
Thurman had taken abortion pills but had not removed the fetal tissue from her body, causing an infection and requiring a common procedure called a dilation and curettage.
But that procedure was now a crime in Georgia.
“At first I didn’t want the public to know my pain. I wanted to continue in silence. But I realized it was selfish,” Shanette said. “I want you all to know that Amber was not a statistic. She was loved by a family, a strong family, and we would have done anything to get my baby, our baby, the help she needed.”
Shanette recalls that when ProPublica’s Kavitha Surana first approached her, she pushed the journalist away. However, she also remembers Surana saying, “People around the world need to know that this could have been prevented.”
“You’re looking at a broken mother,” Shanette told the audience Thursday night as she fought back tears.
Thurman’s sisters criticized health care providers for doing nothing to save their sister’s life.
“We trusted them to take care of her and they just let her die because of some stupid abortion ban,” Thurman’s sister CJ said.
Winfrey then asked Harris to respond.
“I’m so sorry,” the vice president said. “And the courage that you all have shown is extraordinary, because you also just learned how she died.”
Winfrey explained that the family only recently learned the full story of Thurman’s botched abortion.
“And Amber’s mother told me that she keeps thinking about the word ‘preventable – preventable,’ that word keeps coming to her,” Harris said.
The Democratic candidate blamed her rival, former President Donald Trump, for appointing three pro-life judges who planned to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Harris also said that exceptions for situations where “the mother’s life is in danger” are problematic because of how that can be legally defined.
“Here’s the problem, here’s the problem: She’s almost dead before you decide to help her?” Harris asked.
Winfrey also invited teenage rape victim Hadley Duvall to address the crowd.
Duvall, who was repeatedly raped by her stepfather, is featured in a Harris-Walz campaign ad criticizing Trump for appointing judges who took away her right to abortion.
“Hadley, you are truly amazing,” Harris cheered.
“And the idea that the same legislators who would say that health care providers should be criminalized are also saying that after someone’s body has been violated, that person has no right to make a decision about what happens to their body next,” Harris continued. “That’s immoral.”
Winfrey then gave her own take on the matter.
“I just don’t believe that those legislators, that the government has the right to be in your womb,” the talk show icon said.
A-listers attending the two-hour event included Julia Roberts (left) and Jennifer Lopez (right)
An excited Meryl Streep called the vice president “President Harris,” but then wondered what would happen if former President Donald Trump again refused to concede the election to the Democratic president.
All night long, Winfrey threw punches at the celebrities.
“Hello, President Harris,” Streep said, giggling. “From my mouth to God’s ear.”
Streep then asked Harris what would happen if Trump again refuses to accept the election results.
“More Americans than we think who voted for Trump previously have decided that January 6 was a bridge too far,” Harris said.
She added that the “other aspect” is that “the lawyers are at work.
“It’s really important that we talk to our friends and neighbors about misinformation,” she continued, while also encouraging her supporters to “stand up for the integrity of poll workers.”
Harris also pleaded, “Don’t be afraid to vote.”
“I think there is also something very insidious about these attacks on the electorate in these different forms, which are designed to convince people that their vote doesn’t matter,” the vice president said.
She assured the crowd, including Streep, that “we’re going to have a good Election Day.”
Oprah Winfrey (right) got Michigan’s popular Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer (left) to warm up the audience with her on Thursday night as she took over an Oakland County sound stage to essentially recreate her popular daytime talk show
Ahead of the event, Harris-Walz’s campaign reported that nearly 200,000 people had signed up to watch.
Winfrey took over a recording studio in Oakland County, Michigan, for the taping and invited Michigan’s popular Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer to hype up the crowd.
The veteran talk show host explained that the idea for the event came from the Zoom calls that various groups participated in after Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, starting with “Win With Black Women.”
Winfrey said members of a variety of groups turned in their cards Thursday night, including Swifties for Harris and even Train Lovers for Harris.
“I didn’t know train enthusiasts existed,” Winfrey mused.
She said Republicans were part of the crowd for Harris.
“I love that group even more,” Winfrey noted.
The self-described independent first supported former President Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008. In 2016, she endorsed Hillary Clinton, but never campaigned again.
Winfrey has been heavily involved in this campaign, first speaking at the Democratic National Convention and then hosting the event on Thursday night.
She had Harris answer questions from her live broadcast audience and from the livestream audience, who mostly had questions about the economy.