Kamala Harris Pledges To Ban Import Of AR-15-Style Assault Weapons If Elected President

The California senator and presidential candidate said she would go after such firearms, which have been used in many mass shootings around the U.S.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) will announce Wednesday that should she be elected president next year, she will use her executive authority to ban the import of all AR-15-style assault weapons, a firearm used in many of the country’s deadliest mass shootings.

The proposal, which Harris will announce at an event in New Hampshire, is the latest addition to a bevy of campaign pledges meant to rein in widespread gun violence. Aside from AR-15-style weaponry, the order would also suspend the import of all other assault weapons until the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms can determine if they, too, should be banned under federal law.

A senior campaign official told HuffPost the executive action would lean on the Gun Control Act of 1968, which prohibits imports of weapons that are not “suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.”