Kamala Harris says she owns a gun and talks about it in debate with Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris surprised many on Tuesday night by revealing that she is a gun owner, dismissing former President Trump’s assertion during the presidential debate about her administration’s plans to seize Americans’ firearms.

“This talk of confiscating everyone’s guns, Tim Walz and I are both gun owners,” Harris stated during the debate hosted by ABC News. “We have no intention of taking anybody’s guns away.”

Walz, known for being an avid hunter and gun owner, received “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association from 2010 to 2016. However, his grade dropped to an “F” in 2018 after he supported stricter gun laws following the tragic shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

Although Harris’ statement about owning a gun may have raised some eyebrows, it was not the first time the vice president publicly mentioned it. In 2019, during the Democratic presidential primary, she informed reporters that she is a gun owner, citing personal safety reasons due to her background as a career prosecutor.

A campaign aide for Harris disclosed to CNN in 2019 that she owns a handgun purchased several years ago. Moreover, during a policy forum in her initial presidential campaign, she endorsed a mandatory buyback program for assault-style weapons, estimating around 5 to 10 million such firearms in the country that need to be responsibly removed from circulation.

While Harris has advocated for stricter gun control measures, including universal background checks, red-flag laws, a ban on assault-style weapons, and more funding for mental health care, she has affirmed her support for the Second Amendment on the campaign trail.

“It is a misconstrued notion that you have to choose between supporting the Second Amendment or endorsing gun control measures,” Harris asserted during an event in New Hampshire. “I am a proponent of the Second Amendment and believe in implementing rational gun safety laws in our nation.”

Following the recent debate, a Harris campaign official restated that the Democratic presidential nominee owns a handgun, the same firearm she mentioned five years earlier. The debate marked the first in-person encounter between Harris and Trump and might be the sole showdown between the two presidential contenders before the November election.

Harris’ stance on gun ownership and gun control has been a recurring subject of discussion, making her position clear on the need for sensible gun laws while upholding constitutional freedoms. As the election season progresses, her views and policies regarding firearms will undoubtedly remain a significant aspect of her platform.