The New York Times was the first news outlet to report that Harris – now the presumptive Democrat nominee for president – is suddenly making a 180-degree turn on far-left political stances she had pushed for years. One of the issues mentioned in the story is government confiscation of so-called “assault rifles,” especially the popular AR-15 rifle and its variants.
On the campaign trail in 2019, Harris repeatedly vowed to use government power to confiscate guns during her campaign for president, according to The Reload, a firearms-related news website. In just one example, on MSNBC, Harris was asked what she would do about the five million “assault weapons” that are currently in the hands of gun owners.
“We have to have a buyback program,” she replied, “and I support a mandatory buyback program."
Alan Gottlieb, executive vice president of the 2nd Amendment Foundation, tells AFN he is well aware of Harris’ longtime support of a gun buyback program.
“The gun buyback program is really confiscation,” he points out, “because you're forced to sell your gun to the government. You don't get to keep it."
Sharing the skepticism of many, Gottlieb says Harris is trying to appear more moderate as Election Day approaches.
“This is the first time she's said she's not in favor of confiscation,” he says. “I still believe she is in favor of confiscation."
As the U.S. vice president, Harris was publicly supporting gun confiscation as recently as last October, just 10 months ago, The Reload reported.
In the Times story, a Harris campaign spokesperson also said the presidential candidate no longer wants to move to a single-payer health insurance program and no longer wants to abolish federal agencies that enforce immigration laws.
