Harris campaigns off of NRA attack

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a top-tier Democratic presidential candidate, sent an email to supporters on Sunday asking for donations after the National Rifle Association (NRA) attacked her gun-law reform proposal. 

{mosads}The NRA singled out Harris’s reform proposal over the weekend, calling her plans “ridiculous.”

“Big surprise: Kamala Harris is anti-gun. What she doesn’t seem to realize is that most of her gun control policies either wouldn’t work, or are already law, or basically make no sense. Here’s a look at what she’s proposing, and why her plans are ridiculous,” the NRA tweeted Saturday.

Big surprise: Kamala Harris is anti-gun. What she doesn’t seem to realize is that most of her gun control policies either wouldn’t work, or are already law, or basically make no sense. Here’s a look at what she’s proposing, and why her plans are ridiculous.https://t.co/4cLg5TEEVw

— NRA (@NRA) August 10, 2019

The Harris campaign reacted by appealing to supporters. 

“We need to reach our emergency fundraising goals today to ensure we have the resources to respond,” the email reads.

“For the gun lobby, there is no more important mission than defeating any politician that has the courage to stand up to them and present real solutions to the gun violence epidemic. We can’t let these attacks on Kamala and our campaign go unanswered, which is why your contribution of any amount is so important today.”

The NRA included a link to an NRA-published article titled, “Kamala Harris and Her Perplexing Anti-Gun Ideas.”

Harris vowed to enact sweeping executive action on gun control if elected president, during a CNN town hall in April.

She said if Congress fails to “get their act together” and pass meaningful gun control legislation in the first 100 days of her presidency, she would sign an executive order requiring background checks. She has also proposed revoking the licenses of gun manufacturers and dealers who break the law and fining manufacturers up to $500,000 per violation. 

The NRA criticism comes after Harris participated in a gun control forum in Iowa along with 15 of her primary opponents. The forum was held following two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that left more than 30 dead and dozens injured. The massacres led to a renewed focus on gun control laws.

At the forum, hosted by gun advocacy groups, Harris again linked the El Paso shooting to President Trump’s rhetoric. 

“People say to me ‘did Donald Trump cause those, those folks to be killed?’ Well, no, of course he didn’t pull the trigger, but he’s certainly been tweeting out the ammunition,” Harris said.

The suspected shooter in El Paso allegedly published a manifesto warning of a “Hispanic invasion.” 

Trump has defended his immigration rhetoric and said that it did not inspire the attack.

Harris is currently polling in fourth place with just over 8 percent of the vote in the crowded Democratic field, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) also participated in the Iowa event, which was promoted using #gunsenseforum, and renewed a call to action for advocates to ask lawmakers to pass gun control bills. 

The NRA responded by tweeting a “love letter” Gillibrand wrote to the organization when she was a congresswoman representing an upstate New York district.

Wait… Did you also show them the love letter you wrote us? They can view it here: https://t.co/hzGNdAsJdK https://t.co/DUu5xbgnGn pic.twitter.com/aNiOvs4LNE

— NRA (@NRA) August 12, 2019

The NRA had previously tweeted the letter in June after Gillibrand called the NRA “the worst organization in this country” during a Fox News town hall.

Gillibrand is in eighth place in the RealClearPolitics polling average with just over 1 percent of the vote.

A Gillibrand campaign spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.