Kamala Harris supported a total handgun ban when she was San Francisco DA

10/01/2024 / By Laura Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris once supported a total handgun ban in San Francisco during her tenure as district attorney in 2005.

According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News in the same year, Harris supported San Francisco Proposition H, which sought to outlaw handgun possession, as well as the sale, manufacture and distribution of all firearms and ammunition within city limits to reduce gun violence.

Additionally, the proposal required residents to surrender their firearms within four months of its passage. The measure only allowed a few exceptions, such as peace officers, security guards and active military personnel.

Voters passed Proposition H with 58 percent support but quickly met legal challenges from groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the California Rifle and Pistol Association (CRPA). In 2006, the measure was ultimately struck down after a court ruled that it violated the Second Amendment.

“San Francisco was a leader in proposing gun restrictions at the local level, and [Harris] never met a gun control law she didn’t like,” California attorney Chuck Michel, who represented the NRA and other gun rights groups in challenging the measure at the time.

Harris also supported other anti-gun legislation

Aside from supporting Proposition H, Harris also supported other anti-gun legislation.

In 2007, Harris helped draft legislation that tightened gun control measures in San Francisco to ensure proper firearm storage. The safe-storage bill, which then-Mayor Gavin Newsom signed, charged penalties to private citizens who failed to store firearms in their homes properly. With this, policemen could inspect legal gun owners at home to check if they properly secure their firearms. (Related: Kommie Harris plans to seize all civilian-owned AUTOMATIC WEAPONS during her first 100 days in office – does that mean a staged mass-shooting before the election?)

“We’re going to require responsible behaviors among everybody in the community and just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs,” Harris said in May 2007 during a press conference introducing the legislation.

Aside from home inspections, the law also required legal gun distributors to submit inventory reports to the police every six months and banned firearms in public housing, even if the owner possessed them legally.

“When we create laws, it’s not only about creating an opportunity, if you will, to prosecute someone for committing a crime, but more importantly, when we legislate our values, it’s about trying to encourage certain types of behavior,” she added at the press conference.

Harris also repeatedly advocated for a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons during her short-lived presidential campaign in 2019.

Visit KamalaHarris.news for related stories about the vice president’s campaign.

Watch Republican lobbyist Matt Schlapp denouncing Kamala Harris as a “radical extremist” and her policies as “unacceptable to middle America” below.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.