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HARRIS: Supported a Ban on All Handguns
During her time as DA of San Francisco in 2005, Harris supported Proposition H, which contained a proposal to completely ban the possession of handguns throughout the city. According to Breitbart.com: “The ban supported by Harris was structured so as to require city residents to hand over all handguns within four months.”
HARRIS: Allow In-Home Inspections of Personal Guns & Their Storage
In 2007, then-San Francisco DA Harris proudly announced that a bill which she had helped draft – and which was later signed into law by Mayor Gavin Newsom — would effectively authorize the government to dispatch police officers to enter the homes of legal gun owners to check if the latter were being “responsible” with their weapons. “We’re going to require responsible behaviors among everybody in the community,” Harris told reporters, “and just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home, doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs.”
HARRIS & BIDEN: 2nd Amendment Does Not Protect Right to Own a Gun
Arguing that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual’s right to own a gun, DA Harris in 2008 filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller. In that case, the Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms—unconnected with service in a militia—for lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home.
Regarding the Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller decision, Biden has said: “If I were on the Court, I wouldn’t have made the same ruling.”
HARRIS & BIDEN: Ban “Assault Weapons” & “High-Capacity Magazines”
In 2017, Harris co-sponsored a bill to ban “assault weapons” and the sale of “high-capacity magazines,” commonly defined as those that hold more than 10 rounds.
Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign website also included the following policy proposal: “Ban AR-15-style assault weapons from being imported into the United States.” The website also advocated a “ban high capacity magazines,” and “renewing the assault weapons ban.”
Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign website says “she’ll ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”
On February 14, 2021, President Biden exhorted Congress to pass legislation “banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”
“Why should we allow people to have … pistols with 9mm bullets and can hold 10 or more rounds?” Biden asked in a 2020 campaign speech.
Biden has called for banning the sale of “assault weapons” and “clips that have multiple bullets in them,” which would effectively amount to a ban on nearly all firearms.
HARRIS & BIDEN: Opposed to Criminal Immunity for Gun Makers & Dealers
Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign website said she would fight for “the repeal of the NRA’s corporate gun manufacturer and dealer immunity bill” – i.e., the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a 2005 U.S law protecting firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when their products are used in the commission of a crime.
On February 14, 2021, President Biden pushed Congress to pass legislation “eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets.”
HARRIS & BIDEN: Supporters of Forced Government Buybacks of Semi-Automatic Guns
Harris supports forced, government-mandated buybacks of semiautomatic rifles. As she said in September 2019, “I think it’s a good idea…. We have to take those guns off the streets.”
Biden likewise favors “a national buyback program” for semiautomatic firearms.
Biden’s point man on gun control in 2020 was Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who repeatedly conflated automatic and semiautomatic weapons while warning: “I want to be clear: That’s exactly what we’re going to do [buyback programs]. Americans who own AR-15s and AK-47s will have to sell their assault weapons. All of them.” “Hell yes,” O’Rourke emphasized, “we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47 …”
WALZ: Detests the NRA
Walz’s former support for the National Rifle Association (NRA) ended when he renounced that organization in the wake of a February 14, 2018 mass shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In a February 23, 2018 opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Rep. Walz: (a) called the NRA “the biggest single obstacle to passing the most basic measures to prevent gun violence in America,” and (b) vowed that “I won’t accept NRA contributions for my campaign for governor.”
WALZ: Assault-Weapons Ban & Other Proposed Reforms
During his first VP campaign appearance with Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris in August 2024, Walz pushed for a ban on AR-15 rifles and other firearms that Democrats characterize as “assault weapons.”
In a February 23, 2018 opinion piece, Walz articulated his support for “common sense reforms” like the implementation of “universal background checks”; “‘no fly, no buy’ legislation”; “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for research into gun violence”; and “an assault-weapons ban.” Walz also boasted that he had voted against “concealed-carry reciprocity,” and that he had co-sponsored a bill to ban so-called “bump stocks.”
In 2023, Gov. Walz signed legislation that instituted universal background checks and red-flag laws in Minnesota.
TRUMP: Supporter of the Supreme Court’s Heller Decision
President Trump strongly supports the Supreme Court’s 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller decision, which ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to possess firearms that are “in common use at the time” — independent of one’s service in a state militia — and to use those firearms for lawful purposes such as self-defense within one’s home.
TRUMP: Supports the NRA
In April 2017, President Trump told an NRA gathering: “The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end. You have a true friend and champion in the White House. No longer will federal agencies be coming after law-abiding gun owners. No longer will the government be trying to undermine your rights and your freedoms as Americans. Instead, we will work with you, by your side. We will work with the NRA to promote responsible gun ownership … And we want to ensure you of the sacred right of self-defense for all of our citizens…. Our police and sheriffs also know that when you ban guns, only the criminals will be armed.… As your President, I will never, ever infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”