Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris said during a campaign stop in Iowa that she is one of the tens of millions of Americans who own a firearm.
“I am a gun owner, and I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do — for personal safety,” the 2020 hopeful from California told reporters Thursday after a house party in Des Moines, Iowa. “I was a career prosecutor.”
Harris advocated a ban on assault-style weapons but insisted she still supported the Second Amendment.
“We are being offered a false choice,” she said. “You’re either in favor of the Second Amendment, or you want to take everyone’s guns away. It’s a false choice that is born out of a lack of courage from leaders who must recognize and agree that there are some practical solutions to what is a clear problem in our country.”
Of the 18 Democrats, six of them own firearms — although some appear to be inoperable. After Beto O’Rourke’s great-uncle died, the former Texas congressman received several firearms, although they are in condition too poor to be used.
South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg says he owns two antique guns but doesn’t use them. Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan won a Remington 12-gauge shotgun in a contest but says he hasn’t used it and chooses to borrow or rent a gun when hunting.
John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado, owns both a shotgun and rifle. Former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland also says he owns a firearm.
“Assault weapons shouldn’t be walking the streets of a civilized country. We should have universal background checks,” Harris said last April. “It makes sense.”
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