Gun Control Orgs Cheer Harris’s Gun Ownership Claim

We’re old enough to remember when the gun control operations claimed that civilian gun ownership is a bad idea and proudly advocated for an outright ban on all handgun ownership. They claimed that simply owning a firearm increased your chances of suicide, being murdered, or becoming a victim of domestic violence. So you can imagine how much of a 180 it was to see prominent civilian disarmament organizations tweeting approvingly last night about Kamala Harris’s professed gun ownership.

The Vice President has claimed in the past that she owns a gun “for probably the reason a lot of people do — for personal safety.” This despite the anti-gunners’ claims to the contrary. We don’t suppose Giffords, the Moms, or any other civilian disarmament operation will be dropping that talking point any time soon.

Harris was obviously using her alleged gun ownership last night to try to blunt Trump’s claim — and her own campaign talking points — about enacting another “assault weapons” ban and confiscating guns through a mandatory buyback.

Still, the tweets of support were a clear indicator of the extent to which civilian gun ownership has been normalized in America. As the New York Times noted, talking about your gun ownership has long been a “cultural signifier” for politicians, one that Republicans have used far more often than Democrats (with a few notable exceptions). Anti-gun groups touting Democrats owning guns shows how much the foundation on which the gun control industry is built has been weakened in the last decade or so.

Of course, literally no one believes that if she’s elected, the “we’re not taking anybody’s guns” claim will hold up. Harris and the White House Ministry of Gun Control will work daily to make the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex’s most dearly held dreams come true.

This is, after all, the same woman who rigidly enforced California’s handgun roster that limited what the state’s citizens could own. She eagerly supported its conveniently unworkable microstamping mandate. She also argued that banning handguns is constitutional while the right to keep and bear arms is collective, not individual. So no one will put any stock in her denials.

The good news is that the legal landscape has changed significantly in the intervening years. So whatever additional limits a President Harris may sign into law or try to impose by executive action will face significant challenges in the courts. And the number of new gun owners continues to grow, month after month. So if she’s elected in November — gun owner or not — imposing her well-established anti-gun ideology won’t be easy.