Vice President Kamala Harris backed one of the most audacious gun control laws proposed in the Western world on Thursday.
The veep supported the Australian government’s massive nationwide gun seizure in 1996.
Harris spoke at a State Department event in which Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was present.
Harris brought up the horrific massacre that took place in Lewiston, Maine, where 18 Americans were slain, before discussing ties between the United States and Australia.
“In our country today, the leading cause of death of American children is gun violence.”
“Gun violence has terrorized and traumatized so many of our communities in this country.”
“And let us be clear: it does not have to be this way,” Harris said of gun violence in the United States, before pointing to Albanese.
“As our friends in Australia have demonstrated.”
Kamala Harris praises Australia’s massive gun confiscation:
“Let us be clear, it does not have to be this way, as our friends in Australia have demonstrated.” pic.twitter.com/13Q95wkFVp
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 26, 2023
Harris continues to shift away from domestic gun legislation.
In the United States, radical Democrats like Beto O’Rourke, who ran for president but lost, have advocated for very similar ideas.
O’Rourke has secretly placed his 2020 presidential campaign on a proposal to confiscate semi-automatic guns from law-abiding citizens.
WATCH as Beto O’Rourke says,
If law-abiding gun owners do not turn in guns there will be “consequences from law enforcement.”
Don’t buy the “gun buy-back” lie, this is confiscation by force.#DemocraticDebate pic.twitter.com/Eol7lEm5RS
— Students For Trump (@TrumpStudents) October 16, 2019
There is limited data on how many rifles like the AR-15 are already in circulation, but it is safe to assume that law enforcement would have to seize millions of firearms from otherwise law-abiding citizens if a policy similar to Australia’s were implemented in the United States.
The Australian government’s Department of Justice conducted a study in 2008 but found no proof that the country’s gun confiscation program significantly decreased gun killings and suicides.
Even after the 1996 confiscation, Australians still hold 3.5 million legal and registered weapons, according to the University of Sydney.
A lot fewer people are legally allowed to own guns in the country, though.
