Gun control is one of the most polarizing issues in American politics, and it’s been a topic of contention in the 2024 presidential election. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have been at odds over guns — Trump has told voters Harris “wants to confiscate your guns,” a point Harris denies. She wants to see stronger gun control laws on the books but also says she’s a gun owner. Here are Trump’s and Harris’ stances and policy plans to address gun violence in America.
Kamala Harris’ stance on guns
- Harris says she favors the Second Amendment and said in the Sept. 10 debate with Trump that she owns a gun, a revelation she originally made when she ran for president in In 2019. “I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do — for personal safety,” she said at the time. “I was a career prosecutor.” She recently told 60 Minutes she owns a Glock and has fired it at a shooting range.
- Harris oversees the White House Office of Gun Violence and Prevention, which was created by the Biden administration in 2023 with an eye toward finding ways around congressional inaction on stronger gun control laws.
- The Biden administration in 2022 enacted the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in the wake of the mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. It represents the most significant update to gun safety law in almost three decades, augmenting background checks for gun buyers under 21, providing billions for mental health services and closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole” to prevent convicted domestic abusers from purchasing a firearm for five years. It also clarified the definition of gun dealers. The law faces challenges from 26 GOP-led states that are suing to block it.
- Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, also owns a gun and is an avid hunter. He even held an “A” rating from the NRA at one time, but his grade fell to an “F” in 2018, when he backed stricter gun laws in Minnesota following the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. On the campaign trail in October 2024, Walz went hunting with his own Beretta in an appeal to gun owners.
Kamala Harris’ policy plans on guns
- Harris oversees the White House Office of Gun Violence and Prevention, which was created by the Biden administration in 2023 in order to find a way around congressional inaction on stronger gun control laws.
- Her campaign website says if Harris is elected, she would “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.”
- Though she says she is a Second Amendment advocate, Harris also favors stronger gun control measures. In a speech on Sept. 12, Harris promised to “pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and red flag laws.”
- While running for president in 2019, Harris vowed to take executive action on guns, saying in April 2019 that she would implement “near-universal” background checks, close loopholes to prevent those convicted of domestic violence from obtaining firearms and revoke licenses from gun manufacturers and dealers who break the law. In Oct. 2019 she said she supported a mandatory gun buyback program, but at the Sept. 10 debate, she told Trump, “We’re not taking anybody’s guns away, so stop with the continuous lying about this stuff.”
Donald Trump’s stance on guns
- Trump “believes that every American has a God-given right to protect themselves and their family and has proven through his actions that he will defend law-abiding gun owners,” his campaign said.
- The NRA endorsed Trump in May at its annual convention, and he has addressed the group several times, including in 2022, shortly after the Uvalde mass shooting.
- Shortly after taking office in 2017, Trump signed a bill that rolled back an Obama-era regulation that made it harder for people with mental illnesses to purchase a gun.
- During a White House listening session with students and families affected by the 2018 Parkland mass shooting, Trump suggested bonuses for teachers who are “adept at guns” and offered support for providing concealed carry permits for teachers or retired military personnel on campus.
- After the Las Vegas mass shooting in Oct. 2017, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms under the Trump administration banned bump stocks, devices that greatly increase the rate of fire of semi-automatic weapons. The ban was later struck down by the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump’s policy plans for guns
- Trump’s campaign said in a statement that he would “terminate every single one of the Harris-Biden’s attacks on law-abiding gun owners his first week in office and stand up for our constitutionally enshrined right to bear arms.”
- He has not spoken on the campaign trail about specific policy proposals on guns. At the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in February, Trump promised that “no one will lay a finger on your firearms” if he wins the election.
- Trump said in the same speech he “did nothing” to restrict guns while he was in the White House, although his administration enacted the 2017 bump stock ban. After the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, he called on Congress to pass bipartisan legislation to strengthen and improve the national instant criminal background check system. And after the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, Trump reiterated support for “red flag” laws and stronger background checks, although many Second Amendment activists fought the measure, and it was ultimately abandoned later that year.
