Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has come under fire for her past advocacy of using gun owner databases to facilitate door-to-door firearm confiscation by police. This alarming stance, revealed during a 2019 Democratic primary forum, threatens Americans’ Second Amendment rights and has sparked significant backlash.
Harris’s proposal followed two tragic mass shootings in California and Texas. She declared her readiness to take executive action for strict gun control, including comprehensive background checks, restricting gun dealers, and banning the import of so-called assault weapons. Citing her experience as California’s attorney general, she boasted about allowing police to “knock on the doors of people” on a state list of prohibited gun owners to confiscate their firearms.
“We sent law enforcement out to take those guns because we have to deal with this on all levels,” Harris stated, revealing a concerning approach to gun control that many see as infringing on constitutional rights.
In March, Harris introduced the National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center, funded by a Department of Justice grant under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The ERPO Resource Center aims to support state red flag laws, which allow for the temporary seizure of firearms from individuals deemed dangerous by a civil judicial process.
This initiative has faced stiff opposition from nearly 20 GOP state attorneys general, who argue that ERPOs violate Second Amendment rights without proper due process. In an April letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, they wrote, “The solution to gun violence is not more bureaucracy, and it is certainly not parting otherwise law-abiding men and women from their right to self-defense.”
Despite the controversy, gun control advocates like John Feinblatt of Everytown praise Harris’s efforts. Feinblatt highlighted her leadership in the White House’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, where she worked to eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, ban assault weapons, and expand background checks.
However, unnamed advisers have indicated that Harris no longer supports a mandatory buyback of civilian-owned assault weapons, a significant shift from her 2020 campaign stance. This change may affect her standing among both gun control advocates and opponents.
