Harris campaign adviser Keisha Lance Bottoms on Friday brushed off vice president Kamala Harris’s viral comments about how she would shoot anyone who breaks into her home, calling the remarks a “joke.”
During a live-streamed rally hosted by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday, Harris mentioned being a gun owner and said, “If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot.”
She then laughed and acknowledged she probably “should not” have said that, but said her staff could “deal with that later.”
“It was a joke, and she knew that we would still be talking about it today, but I think it‘s important that people know that the vice president respects the right to bear arms, that she supports the Second Amendment, but she wants responsible gun ownership and she wants our communities to be safe,” Bottoms said.
The former Atlanta mayor claimed Harris’s comment “humanizes” her.
As vice president, however, Harris receives Secret Service protection and lives on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory in northwest Washington, D.C.
And in 2020, Harris spoke out against stand-your-ground laws that allow the use of deadly force against an intruder without forcing the homeowner to retreat first.
The vice president said at the time that such laws “have often and frequently been used as an excuse or cover for people who are motivated by racism and racial profiling . . . it has been used as an excuse to kill black and brown people and in particular black and brown young men.”
During the interview, Winfrey said Harris’s gun ownership was news to her, after the vice president touted her gun ownership during her debate against former president Donald Trump last week.
“Here’s my point, Oprah. I’m not trying to take everyone’s guns away. I believe in the Second Amendment,” Harris said, claiming she supports “common sense” gun-control measures.
Harris explained during her first failed presidential campaign that she is a gun owner “for personal safety” after being a “career prosecutor” in San Francisco.