3 takeaways from the Kamala Harris interview with Oprah, including saying, ‘I’m a gun owner too!’

Oprah banded together a team of A-list celebrities like Meryl Streep and Chris Rock to put her back in her familiar hosting chair to host the “Unite for America” event interviewing Vice President Kamala Harris in front of a live audience.
Here are three of the major takeaways for Deseret News readers:
A pivotal moment of the interview was when Harris reminded the crowd she is a gun owner, laughing and saying, “If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot. I probably should not have said that,” she laughed. “I’ll deal with that later.”
Has she talked about guns before?: She has made Americans aware of the fact that she is a gun owner in the past.
During a visit to the Parkland, Florida, high school that experienced a school shooting in 2018 that killed 17 people and changed the lives of the families and friends of the 14 students and three faculty members who were killed, Harris announced two gun safety solutions from the Biden-Harris administration, per a White House release.
As far as policy goes … ?: “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 during the interview, per Time.
Using AI, we entered this BBC article into our system, and asked for some quick snapshots of notable takes Harris has said publicly about the Second Amendment. Here’s what it produced.
“This business about taking everyone’s guns away, Tim Walz and I are both gun owners,” Harris said during the presidential debate on Sept. 10, per NPR. “We’re not taking any of these guns away. So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff.”
Her campaign website’s section on “Ensure Safety and Justice for All” reads:
Overall, her emphasis is placed on the need for public safety and the obligation lawmakers have to protect children from harm when it comes to guns.
Timing: Her comments about guns come on the heels of an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, marking the second attack on the former president after a bullet grazed his ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Following the second incident, Harris reached out to Trump “to see if he was OK, and I told him what I have said publicly. There is no place for political violence in our country,” she said in interview with the National Association of Black Journalists.
Oprah enlisted Hollywood A-list celebrities — the likes of Meryl Streep, Chris Rock, Ben Stiller and Jennifer Lopez— to make the case for a Harris presidency.
Major celebrities in attendance, according to The Hollywood Reporter, included:
Here are some of the highlights.
Comedian Chris Rock: “I want to bring my daughters to the White House to meet this Black woman president,” he said, USA Today reported. “I’m ready to turn the page, man. All of the hate and negativity, it has to stop.”
Meryl Streep: “All of this, the surround of hatred and venom and toxicity and encouraging some segment of Americans to hate other segments of Americans,” can be “prevented,” she said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re done, we’re done with it. It’s just crazy and nobody wants it. We’re done, we’re done with it.”
The audience also heard from Julia Roberts, who was last seen on the national political stage during a fundraiser for President Joe Biden, days before George Clooney wrote an opinion piece, asking Biden to step down as the nominee. Roberts said this is the first time her children will cast a vote in an election, and that she “couldn’t be more excited for them to have the legacy to say that their first vote they ever cast for president was for you. I have just chills saying that out loud.”
Compared to Trump: It didn’t take long for Harris to attract endorsements from Hollywood big names previously in strong support of Biden. During her last two months of star power, voices like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Martha Stewart have voiced support.
Others like Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Robert De Niro, Molly Ringwald and Matt Damon, the producer Shonda Rhimes, the chef José Andrés and Lin-Manuel Miranda are involved in the Harris campaign’s fundraising efforts.
Trump’s celebrity roster isn’t as star-studded with Kid Rock, Hulk Hogan, Dana White and Elon Musk.
Do celebrity endorsements even matter?: Eric Schultz, former White House deputy press secretary during the Obama administration, previously told the Deseret News in June, “For most people, politics is not front and center until we get closer to the election.” He serves as a senior adviser to Obama and is credited as a consultant for HBO’s four-season drama series “Succession.”
To Schultz point, endorsements hadn’t been a game changer. But now, when polls, especially in swing states, show a close race, people with large followings, like Swift, are visibly driving voter registrations and fundraising.
One of the major issues Harris and other participants reiterated is the campaign’s focus on addressing abortion and health care in America.
What’s Harris’ stance on abortion?: Harris shared the story of Amber Thurman when broaching the subject of abortion. She talked about abortion laws and stated that she does not support restrictive abortion laws.
According to the Post, “It’s a health care crisis that affects the patient and the profession,” Harris said. The vice president has become a champion of reproductive rights during her time in the White House, following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.