If elected president, Kamala Harris vows to take action on gun control, with or without Congress
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said Monday that if elected president, she will give Congress 100 days to "get their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws," and if they "fail to do it, then I will take executive action."
The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate made this promise Monday night during a CNN town hall in New Hampshire. Her executive action would require that anyone who sells more than five guns a year conduct background checks on people purchasing guns; let the ATF take away the license of any gun dealer that breaks the law; and no longer allow fugitives from justice to purchase handguns or other weapons.
Harris decried the fact that students of all ages have to go through school shooting drills, and blasted Congress for failing to act when it comes to protecting kids from mass shootings, saying they are "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." There needs to be "reasonable gun safety laws in this country," she added, "starting with universal background checks and renewal of the assault weapons ban." Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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