Kamala Harris supported the defund police movement. This movement caused real long-term damage by painting police with a broad brush as being racist and not deserving of respect. It was already a difficult job to begin with for officers.
Kamala supported the removal of necessary funding and resources from police across the country. The U.S. is now dealing with an increase in violent crime. Fewer police on the streets means less crime deterrence.
U.S. police departments are still hemorrhaging years after the defund police movement. Droves of good police have left, many are still leaving, and are choosing to retire early. Who can really blame them? Disrespect for law enforcement has caused debilitating morale issues for them.
There is a serious police recruitment and retention crisis nationwide now. Police agencies are having to lower standards to find people to fill uniforms. When you lower standards, you risk having more bad apples and more issues. That could potentially create more of the issues that defund police movements complained about. Lack of good policing will make the public less safe, especially for those who are more likely to be victims of violent crime, and law-abiding people who live in high-crime urban areas.
There is also the issue of so-called “common sense” gun-control proposals supported by Kamala. These proposals only really impact law-abiding citizens. Criminals, by their very nature, do not adhere to these gun-control laws. Laws that make it more difficult for law-abiding people to protect themselves only make assault and murder easier for violent criminals.
Guns in the hands of good citizens make society safer, especially with defunded police departments, longer emergency response times, and civilians left on their own to protect themselves. Even police agree guns can help save innocent lives. Police know they cannot be anywhere and everywhere at anytime.
Kamala Harris and her liberal media cheerleaders would have you believe that guns are bad. They want you to believe that you are more at risk of being harmed if you own and carry a gun. They support gun-control policies such as gun-free zones, that actually make citizens less safe, by making them defenseless. They completely ignore defensive gun use cases where law-abiding citizens have defended themselves and others successfully with guns.
With women being more vulnerable if faced against even an unarmed male attacker, a gun is an equalizer for a woman in that disparity of force situation. It is especially important that women who choose to carry a gun, be able to do so in more places so we can protect ourselves.
As a woman who has been a victim of violent crime, it floors me how any woman who cares about her own safety, could support Kamala Harris for President. Take for instance Kamala’s opinion of teachers being allowed to carry in schools. In 2019 she stated on X “Arming teachers with guns would make our schools less safe.”
Harris has more recently called anyone who wants teachers to be able to choose if they’d like to carry a gun concealed in school, an “extremist.” For simply wanting teachers to have the option to protect students and themselves.
Kamala Harris’ talk to the American Federation of Teachers on July 25, 2024: “While you try to create safe and welcoming places where our children can learn, extremists attack our freedom to live safe from gun violence. They have the nerve to tell teachers to strap on a gun in the classroom – while they refuse to pass commonsense gun safety laws. . . . . We who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence will pass an assault weapons ban.”
What Kamala fails to tell the public is that more than half of all states already have some type of law allowing teachers and other school employees to carry concealed guns. There has not been a single mass shooting in a school where staff were permitted to carry.
Kamala espouses her belief in the freedom for women to choose when it comes to reproductive decisions. However, she certainly doesn’t support women's freedom to choose how they want to protect themselves, where women can protect themselves, and women’s ability to stop criminals from doing whatever they want to them.
As a woman who continues to live with the memory of the violent crime I experienced, I worry for other women in the U.S. I want women to be able to protect themselves and those they love. Kamala has supported policies that have made it difficult for citizens to get the help they need in an emergency and preventing citizens from being able to defend themselves. If Kamala Harris is elected President, I fear women will suffer for it.
Nikki Goeser is Senior Fellow of the Crime Prevention Research Center and author of “Stalked and Defenseless.”