Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) said Monday that as president she would unilaterally tighten gun control laws through executive action if Congress did not pass legislation to do so within her first 100 days in office.Harris explained during CNN’s town hall event in New Hampshire that she would use her executive authority to require that anyone who sells more than five guns per year conduct a background check on all sales, effectively eliminating their status as a “private seller” in a move that would be vulnerable to legal challenge.“Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress 100 days to get their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws, and if they fail to do it, then I will take executive action,” Harris told the crowd.The former prosecutor’s plan would also close the so-called boyfriend loophole by prohibiting dating partners convicted of domestic violence from purchasing a gun. Currently the law only applies to spouses. The plan also calls for universal background checks and a return to the “assault weapons” ban that was in place from 1994 to 2004.Harris, who recently admitted to owning a gun for self-defense, also plans to eliminate the 2005 Protection of Commerce in Arms Act, which shields gun makers from liability when their products are used in criminal activity. The gunmaker Remington is currently relying on the law to defend themselves from a suit brought by the parents of the children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
