By Larry Keane
It was quite surprising to hear it when it happened but Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, was fact checked in real time about the real drivers of criminal gun violence. She was tripped up on her answer because the journalist pressing her wasn’t buying the vice president’s tired talking points.
It happened during an interview of the vice president at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) after one of the questioners asked Vice President Harris about her gun control platform.
For those needing any reminding, the Biden-Harris administration has been the most fervently anti-gun administration in history. Vice President Harris, as the administration’s “gun czar,” has infamously instituted a “whole-of-government” attack on the firearm and ammunition industry and the Second Amendment. She is colluding with gun control groups – who literally operate out of her office. As President Joe Biden’s “gun czar,” Harris has continually failed to bring criminals to account for their crimes.
Vice President Kamala Harris tries to claim to voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and other close-polling states that she “isn’t taking anyone’s guns away from them” while in the same breath calling for a ban and confiscation of an entire class of lawfully made and legally purchased firearms – the most popular rifle in America. That’s just about the extent of her “plan” to reduce criminal gun violence. But finally, she received pushback for specifics that voters deserve to hear.
Please Answer the Question
Whenever Vice President Kamala Harris has been asked about criminals committing gun crimes, her response is predictably always the same. She calls for more gun control on law-abiding Americans, lists a kitchen sink full of anti-Second Amendment talking points and blames Congress for inaction. This is despite the fact that for the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration, Democrats controlled both chambers in Congress and The White House. She never mentions that not even all Democrats in the U.S. Senate supported a bill to reinstate, and expanded, a so-called “assault weapons” ban. That doesn’t stop the vice president from repeating those calls. But the interviewers at the NABJ wanted more specifics from her.
“In cities like Philadelphia, handguns are responsible for most homicides and violent crime,” NPR’s Tonya Mosely began. “How will you address the issue of the use of handguns because a push for an assault weapons ban only addresses, um, a significant but small part of the problem?”
The vice president began her answer by repeating the talking point that she and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were both gun owners. She claimed “we’re not trying to take anyone’s guns away from them. But we do need an assault weapons ban.” As she continued to filibuster her answer about how Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) need to be banned and universal background checks must be implemented, Mosely interrupted and pressed her further.
“Respectfully, we do understand that. But I’m asking specifically about handguns because many of those handguns aren’t purchased at places that run background checks. In many of those instances those handguns aren’t bought lawfully.”
The vice president was stumped. She had no response to the logical reasoning that the firearm industry continues to highlight when calls for gun control are made – that criminals do not follow the law. NSSF has reported on Department of Justice data that shows 90 percent of firearms used by criminals in the commission of their crime were obtained through illicit means and not at a firearm retailer. It’s also one of the main reasons why universal background checks won’t work. That and the fact that a national firearm registry is prohibited by law under the Gun Control Act of 1986 and the Brady Act of 1993.
Shift the Conversation
Vice President Harris noticeably paused and shifted her answer to another gun control cliché – gun shows.
“It’s why I have also been adamant about for years, in fact, I myself have protested at a gun show – probably ten, fifteen years ago,” the vice president said. “But the gun show loophole and why we need to close that. Because what ends up happening is that gun shows at flea markets, gun dealers are not, under existing law in the past, required to register their sales.”
According to the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, data reveals that of prison inmates who possessed a gun while committing a crime, fewer than 1 percent (0.8) had obtained the firearm at a gun show. In addition, firearms that are purchased at a gun show must still be transferred through a federal firearms licensee with a processed FBI NICS verification. The “gun show loophole” the vice president references is a myth.
She began to wrap up her answer by unironically hitting the nail on the head. “And so you are exactly right, that a lot of homicides for example…are committed with illegally purchased guns.”
There’s more in her response but what she did not mention was getting tough on criminals, especially repeat offenders who often get out of jail or are released without even going to jail. She did not mention supporting law enforcement in their role to protect communities and keep neighborhoods safe. In Washington, D.C., for instance, the U.S. attorney’s own recent report reveals as few as 500 identifiable people, many of them involved in neighborhood crews or cliques, are responsible for 70 percent of the city’s shootings.
Prevention
One point the vice president did touch on that the firearm industry agrees with, though approaches in vastly different ways, is crime prevention. It’s why the firearm industry is so serious about the Real Solutions. Safer Communities®. initiatives that have a proven record of reducing firearm thefts from mom and pop retail locations, preventing the illegal purchasing of firearms by straw purchasers and ensuring lawful gun owners understand the importance of and practice safe and responsible firearm storage in the home when their firearms are not in use.
Vice President Kamala Harris will pursue a stringent gun control agenda should she win presidency in November, there’s no question about it. The firearm industry continues to cooperate with law enforcement to try to reduce firearm crimes and tragedies while at the same time respecting Constitutional rights to keep and bear arms. Voters across the country must get registered to vote, educate themselves on where the candidates stand on issues and, most importantly, turn out to vote on or before November 5th.
There’s too much at stake. The Second Amendment is on the ballot. Don’t Risk Your Rights – #GUNVOTE®.
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.
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