Kamala backed handgun bans in San Francisco

It's been revealed that Vice President Kamala Harris backed a measure to take away residents' handguns in San Francisco, California. This comes as Harris has described herself as a gun owner and told Oprah that she would shoot someone if they broke into her house, later reversing on the comment, with her campaign saying that she was joking.

According to the New York Post, then-San Francisco district attorney Harris was listed as the sponsor of Proposition H, which would have stripped San Francisco residents of their abilities to possess, distribute, or manufacture handguns.



“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,” the California attorney Chuck Michel told The Reload about Harris' previous support of the measure. Michael represented the National Rifle Association as well as other 2nd Amendment groups in challenging the measure.

Harris has not appeared to speak at length about Proposition H, which was approved by voters on election day in 2005, however, it was struck down in the courts before the gun control measures could materialize. Residents of the California city would have had four months to turn over their handguns, with only law enforcement being exempt from the law.

Multiple prominent Democrats at the time tried to distance themselves from the measure, this included then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom as well as then-US Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Others also did not warm towards taking away handguns.

During her previous 2020 run for president, Harris backed other controversial gun control measures, including mandatory buy-back programs for so-called "assault weapons," saying in 2019 that it was a "good idea." During the 2024 Harris campaign, she has backed banning "assault weapons."