Americans’ Second Amendment rights will be front and center in the November election as 2020 presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden made it official, announcing U.S. Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as his running mate. The pick means Democrats will nominate one of the most antigun presidential tickets in modern history, placing Sen. Harris a heartbeat from the presidency.
She will also swing a heavy hammer to forge a platform that will punish the firearm industry and quash gun rights.
Sen. Harris tried her best to knock Biden out of the Democratic primary, but she dropped early after failing to gain voter acceptance and running out of campaign cash. More recently, she’s warmed up to her former rival and crows Biden’s praises on Everytown’s Veepstakes town hall appearances.
Golden State Gun Gaffes
Prior to her election to the U.S. Senate, Harris served as a prosecutor and then as California’s Attorney General. Despite these prominent law and order positions, she lacked basic understanding of the Second Amendment in a state with some of the strictest gun control in the country. She proclaimed she’d close by executive order the “online gun loophole” to stop “domestic terrorists with a laptop” from being “a click away” from purchasing a gun. There is, of course, no online gun sales loophole as all firearm purchases must be completed with a face-to-face transfer and completed background check from a federally licensed firearm retailer.
As Senator from the Golden State, Sen. Harris also focused her online antigun efforts on the gun control bogeyman “ghost guns.” These are actually unfinished and unassembled parts hobbyists and gunsmiths have used since the founding of America. Sen. Harris joined with fellow gun control advocate Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to introduce S. 3473, the Untraceable Firearms Act, despite the Department of Justice confirming they are “very rarely” used by criminals.
Eliminate The Firearm Industry
Sen. Harris shares several gun control goals with Biden that make her a perfect fit on the ticket, perhaps none more consequential than her desire to go after “gun manufacturers and dealers that break the law,” matching Biden’s goal of eliminating the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). The law protects firearm manufacturers and retailers from frivolous lawsuits that are actually designed to harass and punish manufacturers for the consequences of crimes committed by individuals. It’s much like holding Ford accountable for the damages caused by drunk driving incidents. Biden wants the same thing, calling the firearm industry “the enemy” from the debate stage, and making sure the elimination of the PLCAA was included in the Democratic National Committee platform as he heads the ticket.
Sen. Harris is also in lockstep with Biden on other platform pillars. She’s for reinstating the failed 1994 Assault Weapons Ban that Biden supports, even though it was shown not to reduce crime. She declared she would deem anyone selling more than five firearms in a year to be a firearm dealer and require them to run background checks and would punish those who don’t comply with her edict.
Dismissive Of Voters Concerns
Sen. Harris doesn’t seem concerned about gun voters. She dismissed American voters and their legitimate concerns about personal and community safety. While speaking with Moms Demand Action’s Shannon Watts on her Everytown Veepstakes audition, Sen. Harris nodded along and agreed as Watts demagogued and belittled the millions of Americans who have purchased firearms in 2020, including more than 2.5 million who have done so for the first time. Responding to Watts, she stated “It’s not grassroots. It’s a façade. It’s a front for some other agenda. It’s not real.”
Larry Keane is Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association.
