A look at Harris’ and Trump’s ideas to counter crime and gun violence

The issues of gun violence and crime in America are complex. They also are both key parts of the 2024 campaign. As part of our series about the issues of this election, Lisa Desjardins looks into where Kamala Harris and Donald Trump stand.
Geoff Bennett:
Gun violence and crime in America are both key issues in the 2024 campaign.
As part of our ongoing series about election year issues, our Lisa Desjardins has looked into where the candidates stand.
And she joins us now.
It’s great to have you here, Lisa.
So let’s start with former President Donald Trump. He talks often about crime, despite his own felony convictions. What’s his plan to address crime in America?
Lisa Desjardins:
Trump’s approach is blunt and it focuses on enforcement. Here is what he said to the National Rifle Association in May.
Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: We have become a drug-infested, crime-ridden nation, which is incapable of solving even the simplest of problems. We will institute the powerful death penalty for drug dealers, where each dealer is responsible for the death during their lives of at least 500 people or more.
Lisa Desjardins:
Trump has given a few other details about this. Without the music, we can look at it a little more specifically.
First, to do this, he would require that police forces, in order to get federal funding employ, stop and frisk. That is that police method which looks at people that police believe are suspicious and they would pat them down to try and find weapons or guns or drugs. It’s a controversial program. He would require it in order to get federal funding.
He also would have a crackdown on illegal drugs. To do that, as he said, he would invoke a death penalty, he says, on drug dealers — he hasn’t given other specifics — and human traffickers. We don’t know exactly what that means, but that’s as severe a penalty as you can have.
It’s in contrast, though, to when he was president. That time, he signed the FIRST STEP Act. That’s something that actually reduced the punishments and sentences for some nonviolent drug offenders, including traffickers. And he personally pardoned or commuted the sentences for dozens of drug traffickers.
Geoff Bennett:
So what about Vice President Harris, former prosecutor, former state attorney general? What’s her approach?
Lisa Desjardins:
Let’s talk especially about policing and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Her opponents accuse Harris of wanting to defund the police, but she has never used that phrasing. Instead, she’s really carefully walked this line, sometimes in a vague way. So let’s go back to 2020. After the death of George Floyd, Harris then said that, in fact, she thought there should be a reimagining of public safety, more resources for education, for housing, for community development.
She did say at that time, in her opinion, it was right to question the size of police budgets. Now, while in the White House, she has pushed for more community intervention funding. At the same time, as the issue of crime has risen while she’s been in the White House, the Biden and Harris administration has also pushed for more funding for police.
Now, that includes things like police detectives, forensics, and also some prosecutors as well, her specialty. One of her key advisers has said that that’s not in conflict, that both can happen, that you can increase funding for the police, but also push for reform.
What reforms does she want exactly? She hasn’t specified. But Harris’ main focus in terms of solving crime as a candidate is about prevention, especially about gun violence.
Geoff Bennett:
Let’s talk more about that. What are the candidates saying about what they would do if elected about this issue of gun violence in particular?
Lisa Desjardins:
Right.
Let’s start with Harris because it really is central to what she is saying as a candidate. Here is something she said at an event just yesterday.
Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: … in favor of the Second Amendment and I believe we need to reinstate the assault weapons ban and pass universal background checks, safe storage laws, and red flag laws.
(Cheering)
(Applause)
Kamala Harris:
When we took office, we promised to take on the crisis of gun violence, and we passed under the president’s leadership the first major gun safety law in nearly 30 years.
Lisa Desjardins:
That bipartisan law actually extended some background checks and it closed some loopholes.
Now, in addition to that, as you heard Harris say, she would ban assault-style weapons. She would also ban high-capacity magazines. Those are things we know often are used especially in mass shootings in this country.
But she would also extend more background checks and red flag laws. She wants also more community intervention, as I mentioned. And talking to experts, Geoff, that’s something that they say already has had a positive impact, that gun violence, they see, is being affected in a positive way downward because of community intervention.
As for former President Trump, he says repeatedly on the trail he wants to protect gun rights. He opposes bans on assault-style weapons on high capacity magazines. But, otherwise, honestly, he hasn’t given many details this cycle.
So, if you go back a little bit and look at him as president, there’s a mixed record for him on guns. One is that he asked that bump stocks be declared illegal. It was later overturned by the Supreme Court, but that was something in the direction of gun control.
Otherwise, he moved to water down or sometimes completely rewrite federal gun regulations.
Geoff Bennett:
And returning to this issue of crime, it might be a resonant political issue, but do a fact-check, because crime rights in this country have actually come down.
Lisa Desjardins:
Right. We hear this again and again, especially from Trump and Republicans. There were new figures out just today — or just week, rather, from the FBI.
Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that crime rates have gone down to almost their lowest level in 50 years. What does that mean? Well, violent crime nudged down from last year this year, and especially murders and manslaughter down 12 percent just in the last year.
Now, Trump and his allies are saying they don’t like those FBI statistics, which are based on law enforcement around the country. Instead, they like to use a measure that is a survey of people about if they were victims of a crime. It’s a survey of about half-a-million or a quarter-of-a-million people.
Now, that measure, however, Geoff, I want to point out, when Trump says there is an increase in crime by that measure, there’s some fun with math there. The increase is based on pandemic levels. If you look at that same measure, based on pre-pandemic levels, crime is done. If you look on that same measure that Trump likes based on last year, same thing. Crime is at about the same level.
So we asked one expert, Jeff Asher, to break down the bottom line here.
Jeff Asher, Crime Analyst:
We know that murder is falling probably at the fastest rate ever recorded, and that’s coming from both government sources, the FBI and the CDC, as well as independent sources, the Gun Violence Archive, our real-time crime index, the Council on Criminal Justice.
Lisa Desjardins:
Trump also talks about migrant crime, but we know all research so far in that area says that undocumented immigrants are either less or just as likely as anyone else to commit crime, not more.
Geoff Bennett:
Lisa Desjardins, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Lisa Desjardins:
You’re welcome.