On Wednesday, presidential candidate Kamala Harris announced that should she be elected president, she’ll get right down to business when it comes to addressing AR-15s—the weapon of choice in mass shootings.
CNN reports that during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, the former California attorney general revealed that she’ll use her executive authority to ban the import of all AR-15 style assault weapons. Additionally, she would also suspend all assault weapon imports until the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms determines if they should be banished as well.
“When we look at the issue of assault weapons, let’s be very clear: assault weapons are designed to kill a lot of people in a very short period of time,” Harris said. “I think that this has got to be something that is understood, that we cannot any longer afford to allow people to make this a partisan issue. Those guns, those assault weapons, do not discriminate and determine, ‘OK, is the person pointing it at, is it a Democrat or Republican?’”
This announcement is the latest in a series of gun-related executive actions that Harris will put into effect should she win the Democratic nomination and beat Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
From the New York Times:
At a town hall hosted by CNN, Ms. Harris said that, if elected, she would sign an executive order mandating background checks for customers of any firearms dealer who sells more than five guns a year. The executive actions would also include more stringent regulation of gun manufacturers that could result in revoked licenses or prosecution, as well as an attempt to close the loophole that allows some domestic abusers to purchase guns if their victim is an unwedded partner.
“There are people in Washington, D.C., supposed leaders who have failed to have the courage to reject a false choice which suggests you’re either in favor of the second amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away,” Harris said during a CNN town hall last month. “They have failed to have the courage to act.”
Harris plans to put her plan into action within the first 100 days of her administration should Congress continue to not properly address gun reform.