Harris unveils plan to combat domestic terrorism

Presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) released her plan to combat domestic terrorism that would prioritize making it more difficult for suspected individuals to obtain or keep guns, while pushing other gun control reforms. 

“In America, loaded guns should not be a few clicks away for any domestic terrorist with a laptop or smartphone,” said Harris. “We need to take action to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and stop violent, hate-fueled attacks before they happen. By focusing on confronting these domestic terror threats, we can save lives.”

The proposal, which comes after two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, killed 31 people in total, would create domestic terrorism prevention orders that would empower law enforcement officers and family members to petition a federal court to temporarily restrict a person’s access to firearms if they “exhibit clear evidence of dangerousness.”{mosads} 

The California Democrat also echoed her past promise to give Congress 100 days before she takes executive action requiring any retailer selling more than five guns a year to conduct background checks. 

Pivoting to combating ideologies that help fuel gun violence, Harris said she would instruct the National Counterterrorism Center to devote more resources to preventing global white nationalist terrorism and ask Congress to expand the group’s purview to include domestic terrorism.

She also vowed to invest $2 billion over a decade to create new working groups to prioritize domestic terrorism investigations and to boost the FBI’s ability to monitor white nationalist websites and forums, which she said would pressure online platforms to take down content that violates their terms and conditions. 

“The rise of white nationalist extremist violence in America is a terrorism threat, and Harris will treat it as such,” the plan says.

A number of other Democratic presidential contenders have unveiled their own plans to curb gun violence or tackle white nationalism since the El Paso and Dayton shootings, including South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.