Former President Donald Trump (R) and Vice President Kamala Harris (D) will face off tomorrow in the first and possibly only debate between the two presidential candidates. Their political philosophies couldn’t be more different when it comes to our Second Amendment-protected freedoms.
Kamala Harris
Harris has largely avoided the press since Joe Biden was ousted from the Democratic ticket; in fact, at the time of this writing, she had only sat down for an interview once since accepting the nomination as the Democratic Party’s nominee. She has also claimed to have changed many of her views, but when it comes to the Second Amendment, she has always been anti-liberty. Having been in public service for two decades, she has a long track record that paints a clear picture.
As San Francisco District Attorney, Harris sponsored an amicus curiae brief supporting the District of Columbia’s handgun ban in the landmark Brighter (2008), which struck down the ban and ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. In the brief, Harris argued that the Second Amendment not protect an individual right.
When Harris ran for president four years ago and failed spectacularly, she said: “If I’m elected, I’m going to give the United States Congress 100 days to get their act together and have the courage to pass common sense gun safety legislation. And if they don’t, I’m going to take executive action.”
Perhaps most concerning is Harris’ support for full confiscation. At a 2020 campaign rally (also for president), Harris told her supporters that confiscating commonly owned firearms was a “good idea.” She also advocated for a “buyback program,” saying, “We have to have a buyback program.”
“Mandatory buybacks” are just a politer way of saying that the forced confiscation of legally purchased and owned firearms is a bad idea. Once guns she doesn’t like are deemed illegal, Harris suggests tempering the idea of government confiscation of private property by paying the former owners something — with our tax dollars, of course.
She was recently hand-picked by President Joe Biden (D-CA) to lead the newly created Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The goals of this office include nearly every gun control measure imaginable, including banning widely used semi-automatic rifles, repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, and much more.
Harris would also likely nominate judges to the federal courts who do not believe the Second Amendment is an individual right. If given the chance, she would nominate justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who would vote to repeal it Brighter.
In short, Harris opposes the Second Amendment to the U.S. Bill of Rights. Hopefully, this issue will come up during the debate.
Donald Trump
Former President Trump’s record is essentially the opposite of Harris’s, which is why the NRA’s Political Victory Fund has again endorsed Trump for president.
At the 2024 NRA Leadership Forum in Dallas, Texas, Trump said: “The NRA has stood with me from the beginning. And with your vote, I will stand strong for your rights and freedoms.”
As president, Trump nominated Supreme Court justices with experience interpreting the U.S. Constitution as it was originally written. These nominations were crucial to the court’s decision in Bruenthat affirmed that our Second Amendment rights do not cease to exist once we cross the threshold of our front door. Trump also nominated numerous judges to all lower courts, including 54 appellate judges and 174 district judges.
In addition, in 2018, he signed the Fix NICS Act (National Instant Criminal Background Check System), a law that strengthened enforcement of federal gun laws without expanding them or imposing new restrictions on law-abiding citizens.
At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Trump declared gun stores and shooting ranges “essential businesses” so they could stay open despite the whims of local and state authorities seeking to close them.
One thing that didn’t happen during Trump’s presidency was the passage of major gun control legislation. Under his leadership, Trump defended the Second Amendment and laid the groundwork for it to remain protected for years to come.
And in his 2020 State of the Union address, then-President Trump promised the American people: “Just as we believe in the First Amendment, we believe in another constitutional right that is under threat across our country. As long as I am President, I will always protect your right to keep and bear arms, which is given to you by the Second Amendment.”
In addition to the presidential debate(s), vice presidential candidates Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) will face off on October 1. America’s 1st Freedom will soon detail the huge gap between the views of these two candidates.
