The Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris defends gun rights in the USA – but at the same time calls for restrictions. “I am a gun owner, and Tim Walz, my running mate, is also a gun owner,” said Harris in a TV interview with a regional broadcaster. “We are not taking away anyone’s guns. I support the Second Amendment,” emphasized the Democrat. The “right of the people to keep and bear arms” was enshrined in the Second Amendment to the Constitution in 1791.
Harris: Assault rifles are “tools of war”
At the same time, the 59-year-old called for a ban on assault rifles. “They are literally tools of war. They were literally designed to kill a lot of people quickly.” In the USA, fatal shooting incidents are part of everyday life. Firearms are readily available in the USA and are in large circulation. A substantial tightening of gun laws in the USA has been prevented by the Republicans for years.
In the interview with WPVI-TV, Harris also accused her rival Donald Trump of spreading “hate and division.” “In my heart, in my soul, I know that the vast majority of us Americans have so much more in common than what divides us,” said the Democrat, who is running against Republican ex-President Trump in the presidential election on November 5.
Harris gives few interviews
The interview recorded on Friday was Harris’ first solo TV interview since she took over the presidential candidacy. At the end of August, the Democrat gave an interview to the US broadcaster CNN together with her running mate Walz that attracted a lot of attention. After US President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, Harris had concentrated mainly on well-choreographed campaign appearances. The interview with the regional broadcaster in the hotly contested state of Pennsylvania received significantly less attention than the CNN interview – the questions were also less critical. It was primarily a question of positions. Harris repeated many familiar things.
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