Kamala Harris: For or Against Carrying a Gun?

In front of the popess of American television, Kamala Harris assured Thursday that she would be capable of shooting a burglar who tried to enter her home… before bursting into laughter.

Invited by the influential Oprah Winfrey on the occasion of a big evening in her favor, Thursday, September 19, the Democratic candidate for the American presidential election answered a series of questions. Objective: to allow the last undecided to choose between her and the Republican candidate Donald Trump. Many themes were addressed, such as purchasing power, immigration, abortion… without forgetting firearms, dear to many Americans. It is also on this subject, particularly fond of her rival, that Kamala Harris tried to stand out.

“I am a gun owner. Tim Walz [son colistier ndlr.] is a gun owner too,” Harris said. “Oh, I didn’t know that!” Winfrey exclaimed, prompting laughter from the audience, while Harris added, in a very serious tone: “If someone breaks into my house, they’re going to get shot,” before bursting into laughter herself. “I probably shouldn’t have said that,” she quickly responded, before laughing at the work her “blunder” would give her team: “I’ll let my team deal with that later.”

While the scene certainly made Oprah Winfrey laugh and amused the audience, it also allowed the Democratic candidate to reach out to a section of the American electorate for whom defending the 2nd Amendment to the American Constitution, which guarantees every citizen the right to own guns, is essential. Because in this frantic race to the White House, the pro-gun candidate has so far been Donald Trump. The former President of the United States can count on the valuable support of the NRA, the country’s powerful gun lobby.

During the Trump-Harris debate on September 10, on ABC News, Kamala Harris had already revealed that she and her running mate both owned a gun, implying that they were not anti-gun. But while the Democratic candidate says she is ready to shoot a potential burglar who enters her home to attract attention, Joe Biden’s vice president is still following in the footsteps of the current White House occupant. Kamala Harris wants to ban the purchase of assault rifles, which have been too often implicated in the many school shootings in recent years. She also advocates for better regulation of gun ownership in the United States.