Harris tells Oprah any intruder to her home is 'getting shot'
STORY: :: Kamala Harris says any intruder
in her home is 'getting shot'
:: September 19, 2024
:: Farmington Hills, Michigan
:: Harris also called for action to stop gun violence at schools
"And when you said you have guns know at the debate..."
"I'm a gun owner, Tim Walz is a gun owner, .. (Winfrey saying: I didn't know that) If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot. (Winfrey saying: I hear that, I hear that.) I probably should not have said that. But my staff will deal with that later. (Winfrey saying: But you have been a gun owner for a while.) Yes, I have."
"Let's all agree that the trauma so many children, even those who have not directly experienced the tragedy. (Winfrey saying: Just being in the environment) I cannot tell you the number of young people who I mean, our kids had active shooter drills that the they're concerned that there might be somebody who would kill them while they're at school. This is not the sign of a civil society and it doesn't have to be this way. It does not have to be this way."
The Democratic presidential candidate and gun owner made the seemingly unguarded comment in an interview with Oprah Winfrey before a live studio audience when the conversation turned to gun laws. "I probably should not have said that. But my staff will deal with that later," Harris said, laughing.
Harris, who has robust protection from the U.S. Secret Service, made the statement amid heightened concern about political violence after a second potential assassination attempt against her opponent in the Nov. 5 presidential election, Republican Donald Trump.
Harris mentioned her gun ownership in 2019 when she was a U.S. senator and again in last week's debate with Trump in what seemed like an appeal to more conservative voters.
Harris owns a handgun for personal safety reasons, and it is stowed away in a secure location at her California home, a White House source told Reuters earlier. The source declined to identify the make of gun, but said it is the same gun Harris mentioned in 2019 on the campaign trail.
Harris, the former district attorney of San Francisco and California attorney general, told reporters in 2019: "I am a gun owner, and I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do - for personal safety. I was a career prosecutor."