WASHINGTON — A mass shooting at a Georgia high school in September propelled the issue of gun violence to the forefront of the presidential race. Two 14-year-old students and two math teachers were killed at Apalachee High School.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump agree that gun violence is a major problem, but they offer remarkably different views on how to address it.

At a campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, shortly after the Apalachee shooting, Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, renewed calls for an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and warning laws. Students should not be afraid of school shootings, she said.

“They’re sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential, and yet part of their great, beautiful spirit is worried about a shooter walking through the door,” Harris said . “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, expressed his condolences.

“Our hearts go out to the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in Winder, Georgia,” Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social. “These beloved children were taken from us far too soon by a sick and deranged monster.”

Trump survived two assassination attempts, including one where he was injured in the ear, but has not changed his stance on guns.

After the first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita said at the Republican National Convention that the party would not back down on its support for Second Amendment rights.

During a Univision town hall with undecided Latino voters broadcast last week, an audience member asked Trump how he would explain his gun policies to “parents of shooting victims in schools”.

“We have a Second Amendment and the right to bear arms,” Trump said. “I’m a strong advocate for that. I think if you ever tried to get rid of it, you wouldn’t succeed. You wouldn’t be able to take away guns, because people need them for safety, for entertainment, for sports, etc. But in many cases, they also need it to protect themselves.

A majority of Americans view gun violence as a problem — about 60 percent — and expect it to only get worse over the next five years, according to a Pew Research Center study.

This year, there have been 421 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks gun violence in the United States.

For a third straight year, in 2022 – the most recent year for finalized data – guns were the leading cause of death among children and adolescents aged 1 to 17, according to a report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

Harris’s record

Following two mass shootings in 2022, Congress passed the most comprehensive bipartisan gun safety legislation in decades.

In Uvalde, Texas, 19 children and two teachers were murdered, making it the second deadliest mass shooting since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012. In Buffalo, a white supremacist took responsibility for targeted a black neighborhood and killed 10 black people in a grocery store. .

The package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden included $11 billion in funds for mental health and $750 million to allow states to enact scare laws. It also closed loopholes and created, among other provisions, a White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

Alert laws allow courts to temporarily take away a firearm from an individual who poses a threat to themselves or others, among other provisions.

Biden tasked Harris with leading the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which helps local communities implement bipartisan 2022 gun legislation and helps communities affected by gun violence.

Trump’s record

During Trump’s first presidency, his record on gun policy was mixed.

After a mass shooting in Las Vegas, the Trump administration moved to ban rifle stocks, which allow a semi-automatic rifle to quickly fire bullets. The U.S. Supreme Court, to which Trump appointed three conservative justices, struck down the ban on wholesale stocks.

Trump also threatened to veto legislation in Congress that would have strengthened gun background checks.

Pledge: Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines

Democrats have long called for bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which are typically used in mass shootings. The United States once banned assault weapons, but that ban expired in 2004 and Congress failed to renew it.

“I support the Second Amendment and I believe we need to reinstate the ban on assault weapons,” Harris said at the White House in late September.

Keeping that promise would depend on the makeup of Congress and whether the Senate passes the 60-vote threshold to advance legislation.

Promise: a rollback of Biden regulations

At a forum with the National Rifle Association in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in February, Trump promised to repeal all gun regulations implemented by the Biden administration.

“Every Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will end on my very first week back in office, maybe my first day,” Trump said.

He specifically said he would reverse the Biden administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which revokes the federal licenses of gun dealers who violate gun laws.

Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said in a statement to States Newsroom that if Trump wins a second term, “he will end every one of Harris-Biden’s attacks on law-abiding gun owners as soon as he first week in office and will introduce himself.” defend our constitutional right to bear arms.

Promise: tax credits, no gun-free zones

At an NRA event in April 2023, Trump said he supported a tax credit for teachers who wanted to carry guns in schools. Trump has also previously expressed disapproval of schools being gun-free zones. Days after the Uvalde school shooting, Trump attended another NRA event in Houston, Texas, where he argued that a gun-free zone does not allow people to protect themselves.

“As the age-old saying goes, the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Trump said. “The existence of evil is one of the best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens. »

He argued that schools should be equipped with metal detectors, fences and an armed police officer.