FACT CHECK: ‘Take The Guns First. Go Through Due Process Second’ – Did Kamala Harris Say This Quote?

Brad Sylvester | Fact Check Editor

An image shared on Facebook over 3,300 times claims Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said, “Take the guns first. Go through due process second, I like taking the guns early.”

Verdict:

There is no indication Harris ever said the quote attributed to her in the Facebook post. The words were actually spoken by President Donald Trump in the wake of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Fact Check:

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced Harris as his running mate on Aug. 11, renewing interest in Harris’ stance on certain political issues. Harris expressed support for gun control during her presidential campaign, advocating for mandatory background checks for customers of firearms dealers that sell more than five guns a year and revoking the licenses of gun manufacturers that break the law, among other measures, according to The New York Times.

In recent weeks, a viral post featuring a black-and-white photo of Harris attributes a quote about guns to her: “Take the guns first. Go through due process second, I like taking the guns early.”

However, there is no record of Harris ever making the statement. It does not appear on either of her verified Twitter accounts — @KamalaHarris and @SenKamalaHarris — nor on ProPublica’s archive of her deleted tweets. The Daily Caller News Foundation found no news reporting corroborating the attribution to Harris.

Chris Harris, the communications director for Harris’ Senate office, confirmed in an email to the DCNF that Harris made no such comment, saying, “That’s a Trump quote from after Parkland.” (RELATED: ‘Conservatives Must Be Silenced’ – Did Kamala Harris Tweet That Quote While Calling For People To Report An Instagram Account?)

In the wake of the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead, Trump held a meeting about school safety and gun control with a group of bipartisan lawmakers, according to Fox News. Trump advocated for confiscating guns from certain individuals deemed to be dangerous during the meeting.

“I like taking the guns early,” Trump said, according to footage from the meeting. He later added, “Take the guns first. Go through due process second.”

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Brad Sylvester

Fact Check Editor
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