Sometimes, you can look at a vice president and recognize that they’d make a good president themselves, should the need arise. They have an understanding of the issues, an ability to create change, and so on. They might not have the charisma to win a presidential election, but they’ve got everything else.
Then you have vice presidents you’re pretty sure were picked because they were a good way to prevent assassinations because literally no one wants them in charge.
I’ve figured that Vice President Kamala Harris was in the latter camp since the moment she was named.
But I will grant that her priorities as a presidential candidate are mostly in line with the Biden administration’s. That’s not a good thing, especially as we hit our annual push for gun control, which Harris is more than willing to help with.
Vice President Kamala Harris is taking the lead on the campaign trail this week on the issue of gun violence prevention, drawing a sharp contrast between President Joe Biden’s efforts to combat gun violence and Donald Trump’s plan to blow the issue off entirely.
Harris, who oversees the White House’s first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention, will lead a trio of events. On Friday, which is National Gun Violence Awareness Day, the vice president will host a Students For Biden organizing call to mobilize young voters and highlight the dangers of Trump’s approach to gun violence.
Also on Friday, the vice president will team up with Angela Alsobrooks, the Maryland Senate Democratic nominee, for a campaign event marking Gun Violence Awareness Day.
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Across the events, the vice president will highlight the high stakes of the November election when it comes to gun violence prevention, per the Biden campaign.
Specifically, she will point to Biden signing the first major bipartisan gun safety law in 30 years. This law has made it possible to close the so-called gun show loophole and to hire thousands of mental health counselors in schools.
By contrast, Trump, who is a convicted felon and barred from owning a gun, has bragged that he “did nothing” as president to address gun violence. In January, in the days after a deadly mass shooting at an Iowa elementary school, Trump said people need to “get over it.”
The GOP presidential hopeful has aligned himself with the gun lobby. He was recently endorsed by the National Rifle Association.
Harris has made gun violence prevention one of her priority issues as vice president. In April, she announced plans to close the gun show loophole, which allows people to bypass a background check when purchasing firearms at gun shows or online. The Biden administration is working on expanding the requirements for background checks.
First, let’s understand something. Trump didn’t brag about doing nothing about gun violence. He bragged about doing nothing about gun control.
I know that the difference between those is much too difficult for your average Huffington Post writer to muster sufficient brainpower to comprehend, but it’s an important distinction. Gun control and addressing gun violence aren’t synonyms, no matter how much people like Harris try to claim.
I think it’s interesting that the Biden administration is going down this particular road, though.
After all, we’ve seen numerous polls show that Americans just aren’t that worked up in favor of gun control. They might not be thrilled with violent crime, but it seems as if they understand that gun control isn’t going to cut it.
In fact, a plurality of Democrats view the Second Amendment favorably.
That means there’s not much chance of this being a winning issue for the Biden/Harris ticket.
Then again, no one has ever accused either of them of being particularly brilliant.
What’s more, this is a case of a politician actually telling the truth as they see it. These two want to restrict your right to keep and bear arms. They genuinely want to make it as difficult as possible for you to get a gun.
They’ll get one if they so desire no matter what. It’s people like you and me they want to make it hard for and they’re running on this.
The problem is that most Americans aren’t just aren’t that worried about gun control.
Then again, it seems as if most gun voters aren’t that worried about it, either.
