Concerns among gun owners regarding a potential Harris-Walz administration may be justified following the release of video footage in which Vice President Kamala Harris, in her role as a former prosecutor, stated her intention to “walk into” private homes to confiscate firearms. Harris served as the District Attorney of San Francisco from 2003 to 2011. During her tenure, she advocated for the passage of legislation aimed at addressing improper firearm storage in residences. In a 2007 video promoting the new law, Harris is seen informing reporters that her office possesses the authority to enter gun owners’ homes and inspect their weapons storage practices.
“We’re going to require responsible behaviors among everybody in the community, and just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs,” she said in a clip obtained by Fox News.
Harris made these statements during a press conference where she, alongside other Democratic prosecutors, pledged to restrict gun ownership if individuals were found to be improperly storing their firearms under the new legislation. The law, approved by the San Francisco City Council earlier that year and signed by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom, introduced stringent storage requirements. Additionally, the legislation mandated that licensed gun distributors submit an inventory to the chief of police every six months and prohibited legal gun ownership in public housing, the outlet reported.
WATCH:
HOLY SMOKES. Unearthed footage shows San Francisco DA Kamala Harris vowing to FORCIBLY ENTER HOMES to check how private gun owners are storing their firearms.
This video just sealed Trump’s victory.
We’ve never had a nominee this extreme.
pic.twitter.com/91wbAIgNnN— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) September 18, 2024
Newsom, now California governor, said at the time, “San Francisco now has the strictest anti-gun laws in the county.” Harris added during her press conference that the new law signaled “our values” in an attempt to “encourage certain kinds of behavior.” She noted further: “When we create laws, it’s not only about creating an opportunity, if you will, to prosecute someone for committing a crime, but more importantly, when we legislate our values, it’s about trying to encourage certain types of behavior.”
Harris’s former tough-on-crime approach seems at odds with the promises she made during her 2019 presidential campaign. These promises included allocating federal funds for gender reassignment surgeries for convicted felons and lowering federal conviction rates for certain offenders. In a joint interview with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris assured CNN’s Dana Bash that her values “haven’t changed.” Lora Ries, a border security expert at the Heritage Foundation, said that vow was concerning.
“As she said last night in her interview, her values have not changed. She said that over and over again,” Ries told Fox. “She is telling her base, ‘Look, don’t worry about what the campaign is saying right now. We just have to say that to try and get elected. But my values have not changed.’”
During last week’s debate, former President Donald Trump accused Harris of having a “plan to confiscate everybody’s gun.” In her response, Harris did not directly address her evolving stance on gun control but emphasized that she and Governor Tim Walz are both gun owners who honor the Second Amendment. “This business about taking everyone’s guns away… Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away. So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff,” she said.
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.