Vice President Harris said that if someone were to break into her house, they would get shot, delivering the attention-grabbing quote during a discussion with Oprah Winfrey about hot-button issues at a Thursday night campaign event.
“If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot,” she said, laughing. “I probably should not have said that. My staff will deal with that later.”
Her comments came in response to Winfrey bringing up that she’s a gun owner. The vice president has publicly said that she is a gun owner, and she mentioned it again during the debate last week against former President Trump.
There was a portion of the Thursday event on gun violence prevention, during which a survivor of the Georgia school shooting earlier this month spoke before Harris. She was in class when she was shot twice and appeared at the event still in a cast. The Apalachee High School shooting occurred earlier this month when Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student, opened fire and killed four people.
During the segment, Harris discussed her gun violence prevention platform, which involves pushing for an assault weapons ban and universal background checks.
“I think for far too long on the issue of gun violence, some people have been pushing a really false choice to say you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away. I’m in favor of the second amendment, and I’m in favor of assault weapons bans, universal background checks, red flag laws,” Harris said, prompting Winfrey to ask about her gun ownership.
Harris, at the debate, noted, “Tim Walz and I are both gun owners,” referring to her running mate, the governor of Minnesota, while discussing her gun violence prevention platform.
Updated on Sept. 20 at 8:06 a.m. EDT