Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris revealed in an interview aired Monday that she owns a Glock semi-automatic pistol — and said “of course” she fired it at the shooting range.
Speculation about the US Vice President’s weapon of choice has been rife ever since she recently told television star Oprah Winfrey that she owned a gun and would shoot anyone who entered her house.
“I have a Glock, and I’ve had it for a long time,” Harris said in an interview on the primetime CBS show 60 Minutes. When Harris was asked what kind of gun she packs.
The former prosecutor and California Attorney General said, “My background is in law enforcement. And – so there you go.”
Interviewer Bill Whitaker then asked if Harris had ever fired a Glock. Harris laughingly replied: “Of course I have. At a shooting range. Yes, of course I have.”
Austrian manufacturer Glock makes one of America’s best-selling handguns. Glocks, widely used by police, have also gained cult status from their appearances in films and hip-hop culture.
Until recently, Harris rarely mentioned her status as a firearms owner, as her party regularly pushed to reduce access to guns in a country plagued by armed crime and mass shootings.
But in a tight election with Republican Donald Trump, the 59-year-old Democrat has begun to shore up his gun ownership credentials.
Trump has repeatedly claimed Harris wants to confiscate Americans’ guns in violation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution — including during their only televised debate last month.
Harris strongly rejected that allegation, noting that he and his partner, Tim Walz, are both gun owners.
“I’m a gun owner,” she told Winfrey in September. “If anyone breaks into my house, he will be shot,” he said, laughing.
Most eye-catching was her Glock revelation in an interview that saw Harris carefully sidestepping tough questions on important topics like immigration and the economy.
Trump backed out of the 60 Minutes encounter last week, saying the program had a half-century tradition of sitting down with both US presidential candidates before the election.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)