WASHINGTON – A mass shooting at a high school in Georgia in September brought the issue of gun violence to the forefront of the presidential race.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump agree that gun violence is a grave problem, but they offer strikingly different views on how to solve it.
Two 14-year-old students and two math teachers were killed at Apalachee High School.
At a campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, shortly after the Apalachee shooting, Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, renewed connections on an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and red flag laws.
In her opinion, students should not be afraid of school shootings. “They’re sitting in a classroom where they’re supposed to be living up to their God-given potential, and yet some part of their big, beautiful minds is worried that a shooter is going to break through the door,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”
Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, expressed his condolences.
“Our hearts go out to the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, Georgia,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media site. “These beloved children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and demented monster.”
Trump survived two assassination attempts, including one in which he was wounded in the ear, but he has not changed his stance on guns.
After the first attack attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita said at Republican National Convention that the party will not retreat from its support for Second Amendment rights.
During a Univision town hall with undecided Latino voters that aired Wednesday night, an audience member asked Trump how he would explain his gun policy to “parents of school shooting victims.”
“We have the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms,” Trump said. “I am a strong supporter of this. I think if you ever tried to get rid of it, you wouldn’t be able to do it. You wouldn’t be able to take away guns because people need them for security, entertainment, sports and other purposes. But in many cases they also need it for protection.”
A majority of Americans see gun violence as a problem – about 60% – and expect the problem to only get worse over the next five years. – according to a study by the Pew Research Center.
According to Department of Justice data, there have been 421 mass shootings this year Gun Violence Archivewhich tracks gun violence in the US
For the third year in a row, in 2022 – the last year with final data – firearms main cause of death for children and adolescents aged 1 to 17, – according to a report by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
Harris’ record
In the wake of two mass shootings in 2022, Congress passed the most comprehensive bipartisan gun safety legislation in decades.
In Uvalde, Texas, 19 children and two teachers were murdered, the second deadliest mass shooting since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012. In Buffalo, a white supremacist targeted a black neighborhood and killed 10 black people in a grocery store.
The package passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden provided $11 billion in mental health funding and $750 million for states to implement red flag laws. She also closed loopholes and, among other things, created the White House Office to Prevent Gun Violence.
Red flag laws allow courts, among other things, to temporarily confiscate a person’s firearm if they pose a danger to themselves or others.
Biden entrusted Harris to lead The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which helps local communities implement bipartisan 2022 gun legislation and assists communities impacted by gun violence.
Trump’s record
During Trump’s first presidency, he had a mixed approach to gun policy.
After the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Trump administration banned the apply of bump stocks, which allow bullets to be fired rapidly from semi-automatic rifles.
However, the US Supreme Court, to which Trump appointed three conservative judges, lifted the ban on the apply of bump stocks.
Trump also threatened to veto the 2013 bill Congress that would improve gun background checks.
The promise: a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines
Democrats have long called for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which are typically used in mass shootings.
There was an assault weapons ban in the US, but it expired in 2004 and Congress did not extend the ban.
“I am a supporter of the Second Amendment and I believe we need to reinstate the assault weapons ban,” Harris – he said at the White House at the end of September.
Fulfilling this promise would come down to replenishing the membership of Congress and exceeding the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, which would enable legislative progress.
The promise: rollback Biden regulations
During a forum with the National Rifle Association in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in February, Trump promised to roll back all gun regulations put in place by the Biden administration.
“Any Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be ended within the first week, and perhaps on the first day, of my return to office,” Trump said.
Trump has clearly said he will dismiss the Biden administration “zero tolerance” policy, which revokes the federal licenses of gun dealers who violate firearms laws.
Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement to States Newsroom that if Trump wins a second term, “in his first week in office, he will end every one of Harris-Biden’s attacks on law-abiding gun owners to defend our constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms.” .
The promise: tax breaks and no gun-free zones
At an NRA event in April 2023, Trump stated that he supports a tax break for teachers who want to carry firearms in schools.
Trump has previously expressed his disapproval of schools being gun-free zones. Days after the Uvalde school shooting, Trump attended another NRA event in Houston, Texas, where he argued that a gun-free zone did not allow people to protect themselves.
“As the old saying goes, the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Trump said. “The existence of evil is one of the best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens.”
He argued that schools should have metal detectors, fencing and an armed police officer.
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