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Quick Take
Vice President Kamala Harris supports a ban on the sale of so-called assault weapons, but no longer supports a mandatory buyback program for such guns. The National Rifle Association misleadingly claims that Harris will “ban law-abiding Americans from owning” guns and “seize your legally owned guns.” Her proposal would not ban all guns or seize any guns.
Full Story
During the 2020 presidential race, then-Sen. Kamala Harris came out in support of a mandatory buyback program for so-called assault weapons. At a gun safety forum in Las Vegas, Harris said, “we have to have a buyback program, and I support a mandatory buyback program.”
Harris also said that such weapons “should not be on the streets of a civil society” in a November 2019 NBC News interview.
As the current Democratic nominee for president, Harris continues to support a ban on purchasing certain semiautomatic weapons. But her campaign told us she is no longer advocating that Americans be required to give up weapons that they had legally purchased.
Harris was questioned about her policy changes on guns and other issues during the Sept. 10 debate with former President Donald Trump. She said that her “values have not changed,” but did not comment more specifically on her position. Later in the debate, Harris said, “We’re not taking anybody’s guns away.”
But a Sept. 17 Instagram post by the National Rifle Association falsely claims, “All Kamala Harris knows about guns is that she wants to ban them.” In the video, Harris can be heard calling for universal background checks and closing the so-called gun-show loophole that allows unlicensed individuals to sell firearms without performing background checks.
The post claims that Harris wants to “ban law-abiding Americans from owning [guns].” Another Instagram post by the NRA on Sept. 18 claims, “Kamala Harris will seize your legally owned guns.”
But the claims misrepresent the vice president’s position on firearms. While Harris supports a ban on so-called assault weapons, her plan would not apply to such weapons purchased before the proposed ban would take effect. The U.S. had a similar ban in place for 10 years, from 1994 to 2004, on the sale of certain semiautomatic weapons, as we have written before.
When asked for comment about the claim that Harris wants to “ban law-abiding Americans from owning” guns, an NRA spokesperson directed us to a recent post on X by Harris’ official vice presidential account that reads, “Congress must renew the assault weapons ban.”
At a Sept. 19 campaign event with former talk show host Oprah Winfrey, Harris told families of school shooting victims that “for far too long on the issue of gun violence, some people have been pushing a really false choice to suggest you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away. I’m in favor of the Second Amendment, and I’m in favor of assault weapons bans, universal background checks, red flag laws, and these are just common sense.”
The policy section of Harris’ campaign website also reflects this position, stating that, “She’ll ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require universal background checks, and support red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.”
On the campaign trail in 2019, Harris said that she owned a gun for “personal safety.” During the presidential debate, she said, “Tim Walz and I are both gun owners.” And she told Winfrey, “If somebody breaks in my house, they’re getting shot.”
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
CBS Chicago. “Presidential Debate Between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.” YouTube. 10 Sep 2024.
Chu, Vivian. “Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Legal Issues.” Congressional Research Service. 14 Feb 2013.
Epstein, Reid. “Why the Kamala Harris of Four Years Ago Could Haunt Her in 2024.” New York Times. 29 Jul 2024.
Farley, Robert. “FactChecking Biden’s Claim that Assault Weapons Ban Worked.” FactCheck.org. 26 Mar 2021.
Folk, Zachary. “Biden Closes ’Gun Show Loophole’-Here’s What to Know and When Rule Comes into Effect.” Forbes. 8 May 2024.
Harris, Kamala. (@VP). “Congress must renew the assault weapons ban.” X. 14 Sep 2024.
Kamala Harris. “Unite for America Rally with Vice President Kamala Harris and Oprah Winfrey.” YouTube. 19 Sep 2024.
KamalaHarris.com. “Make Our Communities Safer from Gun Violence and Crime.” Accessed 23 Sep 2024.
Lah, Kyung. “Kamala Harris talks about owning a gun: ‘I was a career prosecutor’.” CNN.com. 11 Apr 2019.
MSNBC. “Watch Live: Gun Safety Forum 2020 In Las Vegas | MSNBC.” YouTube. 2 Oct 2019.
NBC Nightly News. “Sen. Kamala Harris speaks to @HarrySmith about gun control in our series #WhatMatters where we take voters’ questions to the candidates.” 19 Nov 2019.
Robertson, Lori and D’Angelo Gore. “Trump Distorts the Facts in Attacks on Harris.” FactCheck.org. 1 Aug 2024.
White House. “Remarks by Vice President Kamala Harris at a Political Event Houston, TX.” 31 Jul 2024.