Kamala Harris Emphasises Gun Control in First Campaign Address

Vice President Kamala Harris has highlighted her commitment to stricter gun control measures in her first campaign speech since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race.

Harris spoke to Democratic campaign staff in Wilmington, Delaware, setting out her vision for a potential presidency. She framed her policies around ensuring safety from gun violence, describing herself and her audience as “those who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence.”

In her address, Harris outlined specific policy proposals, including universal background checks, Red Flag laws, and an assault weapons ban. These commitments reflect a continuation of Biden’s earlier positions on gun control but signal a more aggressive stance.

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Harris’s speech follows Biden’s recent announcement that he would not seek re-election and his endorsement of Harris as his successor in the Democratic race. Since this endorsement, prominent Democrats have rallied behind Harris, and no major challengers have emerged. Her speech suggests she plans to pursue a similar path on gun policy as Biden, continuing efforts from earlier in the year.

While Harris’s current stance aligns with Biden’s policies, her past positions on gun control have been more assertive. During the 2020 Democratic primary, she advocated more strongly for gun control compared to Biden. Both opposed the Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller decision, which recognised an individual’s right to bear arms. However, Harris went further by supporting mandatory firearm buybacks and a more aggressive use of executive power to impose gun restrictions.

In April 2019, Harris declared, “Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress a hundred days to get their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws. If they fail to do it, then I will take executive action.” In contrast, Biden responded in August 2019 by questioning the constitutional authority for such executive measures, stating, “You have no constitutional authority to issue that executive order, the ones they’re talking about. ‘I’m going to eliminate assault weapons’ — can’t do it by executive order any more than Trump can do the things he’s saying he can do by executive order.”

The Biden Administration has used executive rulemaking to introduce some firearm restrictions but has not pursued a ban on AR-15s or other firearms typically covered by assault weapons bans, as Harris had suggested. This regulatory approach could potentially shift under a Harris administration.

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Harris’s focus on gun control stands in contrast to recent shifts in the Trump campaign. Republicans have removed previous gun policy promises from their platform and did not feature speakers from gun-rights groups at the Republican National Convention. Trump’s acceptance speech avoided mentioning gun policy or the Second Amendment, which may indicate that Democrats plan to emphasise gun control more heavily as the election draws closer.