In May 2019, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) promised she would ban imports of AR-15-style assault weapons in her first 100 days if she were elected president, arguing in New Hampshire, “I am also prepared, and I am announcing it for the first time today here with you, to take executive action to ban the import of assault weapons into our country.”
Because of her much-reported vow to ban the weapon, photographs from a campaign event last week have raised some eyebrows. While visiting Florida Memorial University, Harris was seen being protected with an AR-15 held by a Secret Service agent. The Daily Mail reported, “In the photos exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, the VP hopeful is seen leaving Florida Memorial University on Thursday, ironically being protected by the same assault rifle that she promised to ban within the first 100 days of her term.”
Gentleman’s Quarterly reported on Harris’s vow to ban AR-15-style guns in May 2019:
On Wednesday, California senator Kamala Harris promised that as president, she would ban imports of AR-15-style assault weapons within her first 100 days in office. And if Congress won’t pass such a law during that period, she says, she’ll take executive action to fulfill her promise. Harris would use existing federal law to ban AR-15-style firearms — the weapon of choice in gun attacks in Aurora, Sandy Hook, Newtown, Sutherland Springs, and Parkland, among many others — as not “suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.”
Harris stated in Nashua, New Hampshire in May 2019: “I want to talk specifically about assault weapons. So, when we look at the issue of assault weapons, let’s be really clear: assault weapons are designed to kill a lot of people in a very short period of time. Let’s look at the facts: one in four police officers who is killed in the line of duty by gunfire is killed by an assault weapon. Let’s look at the fact that there are four million assault weapons in the United States which were imported here from foreign countries. So I am also prepared, and I am announcing it for the first time today here with you, to take executive action to ban the import of assault weapons into our country.”
At a CNN townhall in April 2019, Harris asserted, “There are people in Washington, D.C., supposed leaders, who have failed to have the courage to reject a false choice which suggests you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away. Supposed leaders in Washington, D.C., who have failed to have the courage to recognize, you know what, you want to go hunting, that’s fine, but we need reasonable gun safety laws in this country, starting with universal background checks and a renewal of the assault weapon ban. But they have failed to have the courage to act … Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress 100 days to get their act together and have the Courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws. And if they fail to do it, then I will take executive action.”