Farmington Hills:

Kamala Harris held a star-studded rally hosted by talk show legend Oprah Winfrey on Thursday in a bid to bedazzle voters, as rival Donald Trump criticized Jewish Americans for not voting for him. Hollywood stars including Jennifer Lopez, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller beamed in remotely to lavish praise via screens on the Democratic vice president.

Sitting on a chat-show style stage, Winfrey started by asking Harris about what seemed a sudden burst in confidence — “a veil or something dropped” — after she replaced President Joe Biden as nominee.

“We each have those moments in our lives when you have to step up,” the 59-year-old Harris replied at the livestreamed “Unite for America” event

The pair hugged as Harris arrived on stage at the rally in Michigan, one of the seven crucial battleground states that will decide the knife-edge November 5 election.

It is so good to be with @Oprah for a town hall to speak directly with Americans about the issues on their minds in this election.

Our campaign is about who we are as Americans—and making clear that we stand for freedom, independence, and dignity. pic.twitter.com/5k8h5Ra7Uk

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 20, 2024

Harris urged Americans to unite against the “powerful forces that would try to divide us”, represented by Republican former president Trump.

The Democrat then talked through her key campaign points, ranging from abortion to economy and immigration and gun control, as audience members told stories about their experiences.

Former prosecutor Harris also made a pitch to gun owners, a key part of the electorate in a country with more firearms than people, even as she called for an end to high-powered assault weapons used in a string of school shootings.

“I’m a gun owner too, if somebody breaks in my house they’re getting shot,” Harris said with a laugh, before adding:  “I probably shouldn’t have said that…  my staff will deal with that later.”

Watch Live: Livestream event with Vice President Kamala Harris and Oprah Winfrey https://t.co/P8Rax1dAGk

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 19, 2024

TV superstar Winfrey, who also spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, said as she introduced Harris that she felt “hope and joy rising.”

Groups including “Swifties for Harris” (made up of fans of Harris-backing pop star Taylor Swift) and “Cat Ladies for Kamala” (women mocking comments by Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance on childless people) tuned in remotely. 

The US election is effectively neck-and-neck as Harris and Trump try to eke out every vote with 47 days left until polling day.

Harris got a boost from a New York Times/Siena poll showing her marginally ahead in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most crucial of all the swing states, but the survey also put her and Trump level nationwide.

Her glitzy event contrasted with the darker tone taken by Trump at an anti-Semitism event in the capital, Washington.

Trump spent much of time repeating his grievance over the fact that Jewish voters in the United States have historically leant towards the Democrats.

“If I don’t win this election… in my opinion the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” Trump said.

Accusing Harris of failing to back Israel after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, Trump said that “more than any other people on Earth, Israel, I believe, has to defeat her.”

Trump added that “any Jewish person that votes for her… should have their head examined.”

The Gaza war could be a crucial one in the election.

The US “Uncommitted” movement, which opposes the Biden-Harris administration’s military and political support for Israel’s war on Gaza, said on Thursday it would not be backing Harris in the election.

It also threatens Harris’s narrow margins in Michigan, where there is a large Arab-American community against the war.

Harris’s running mate Tim Walz meanwhile on Thursday met with the families of Americans held hostage by Hamas since the attack.

He said after the meeting that Biden and Harris would “continue doing everything possible to bring them home.”

Trump and Harris are also battling for support from US unions.

The powerful Teamsters union on Wednesday declined to endorse a presidential candidate, in a blow for Harris as it had a quarter century tradition of endorsing Democrats.

But Harris’s campaign said however that local Teamsters branches representing one million people had since said they endorsed her.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris said during Tuesday’s debate with Republican Donald Trump that she owns a gun, a revelation that surprised some voters but carried a deliberate political message.

Harris owns a handgun for personal safety reasons, and it is stowed away in a secure location at her California home, a White House source said on Friday. The source declined to identify the make of gun, but said it is the same gun Harris mentioned in 2019 on the campaign trail.

KEY QUOTES

“This business about taking everyone’s guns away — Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away, so stop with the continuous lying about this stuff,” Harris said on Tuesday, referring to her running mate Walz.

In 2019, Harris told reporters “I am a gun owner, and I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do — for personal safety. I was a career prosecutor.”

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT:

Harris along with most of her Democratic Party, has pushed for more gun safety legislation to curb the high rate of gun deaths and injuries in the U.S. Republicans blocking this legislation have argued that Democrats want to seize Americans’ guns and overturn the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that gives Americans the right to “bear arms.”

Harris is trying to appeal to some voters among the one-third of Americans who own a gun and the two-thirds of Americans who support stronger regulation of gun ownership.

CONTEXT

Harris has called for implementing universal background checks and expanding red flag laws to take away guns from people who are deemed dangerous or unstable. She also wants to ban so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“I’m a good marksman,” Harris said during an onstage Politico interview in 2015 in California after being asked if she’d ever fired a gun. “Yes, I have shot a gun many times,” she said, adding that it was a pistol.

Trump’s New York concealed carry license was suspended in April 2023 after his criminal indictment, CNN reported. He turned over two of three pistols he owned and the third was moved to Florida, according to the news outlet.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

A day after a shooting incident in United State’s Georgia left four people dead, US President Joe Biden has called for a complete ban on assault weapons.

Speaking at an event on Thursday, President Biden said, “I’d like to say a few words about the school shooting yesterday. As a nation, we cannot continue to accept the carnage of gun violence. I’m a gun owner. I believe strongly in the amendment. We need more than thoughts and prayers,” CNN quoted the president as saying.

While urging the US Congress to take strong action for gun control in the US, he reached out to Republican lawmakers, saying some of its leaders should “finally say enough is enough”, adding that “We have to do something together. Let’s ban assault weapons.”

Mr Biden further said, “I realise I’m in a rural area, like the rural parts of my state, where guns — we all have them and it’s not popular to talk about it, but the truth is, there’s a difference between rational and irrational.”

He acknowledged that the decision “won’t bring back those children.” However, it would “help save lives if we do the things we’re talking about.” He went on to say, “We can do if we do it together…and I really think we can.”

JOE BIDEN’S APPEAL

Joe Biden has been appealing for a total ban on assault weapons across the United States. He has been calling for the ban for a long time, but has been stymied by Republican leaders in Congress.

Mr Biden also called for proper check of background checks, an end to immunity for gun manufacturers and for parents who allow their children to have weapons to be held accountable, according to a CNN report.

SCHOOL SHOOTING IN GEORGIA

At least four people, including two students, were killed and nine others wounded when a another student from the same high school opened fire in the US state of Georgia on Wednesday.

The suspected gunman was caught and is currently in custody. He was identified as 14-year-old Colt Cray, a student of Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, which is around an hour’s drive from state capital Atlanta.

Two of the people killed were students and two were teachers. Law enforcement agencies are still investigating the shooting and the motive behind it.

USA’s GUN VIOLENCE PROBLEM

The school shooting in Georgia is the latest among dozens across the US in recent years, including deadly ones in Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, Newtown, and Uvalde, Texas.

So far, at least 385 mass shooting incidents have taken place in the US in 2024, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, considers mass shootings as those in which four or more victims are shot. That’s an average of more than 1.5 mass shootings every day.
 

Winder:

The perpetrator of a shooting at a US high school on Wednesday was a 14-year-old student and two of the four people killed were fellow pupils, authorities said.

“Of those that are deceased, two were students and two were teachers here at the school,” said Chris Hosey, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. “The shooter is in custody… He is a fourteen year old student here at the high school.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

In a new advisory released on Tuesday, US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy said that gun violence in the country is an urgent public health crisis that demands the “collective commitment of the nation” to put an end to it, reported CNN.

This is the first Office of the Surgeon General publication that specifically addresses gun violence and its “deep consequences” for victims, communities, and mental health.

The US Department of Health and Human Services states that a surgeon general’s advice is usually used to highlight important public health issues.

The advise released on Tuesday outlines the terrible effects of gun violence in the US and provides information on how public health initiatives can be helpful.

Provisional data indicates that over 48,000 US citizens lost their lives as a result of firearm-related injuries in 2022 alone. Homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths were all included in that total. The recommendation states that the number of firearm-related deaths in the US has been increasing and will peak in 2021 at three decades, reported CNN.

According to the advice, since then, there has been a decline in gun-related killings but the number of gun-related suicides has remained relatively constant. The caution states that although mass shootings are still uncommon–they account for only 1 per cent of gun fatalities–the frequency of these events has been increasing.

The Surgeon General’s advisory underlined, how people of colour are “disproportionately impacted” by gun violence, reported CNN.

The recommendation states that firearm violence can have a negative impact on mental health in addition to the physical issues it can cause.

According to the advisory, youngsters are especially prone to fearing gun violence, with many of them believing that their school will be the scene of such carnage. It states that in order to understand how to lower and prevent firearm violence in the US, additional funding for guns research is required. Investments should be made with a focus on improving data gathering and preventative tactics, CNN reported.

The guideline calls on healthcare providers and communities to take proactive measures to support populations that are most at risk of this type of violence.

“There are no federal standards or regulations regarding the safety of firearms produced in the US,” the advisory says.

In the past few weeks, the US has witnessed several shooting incidents, with at least 21 other mass shootings recorded by the Gun Violence Archive since last Friday. According to CNN report, the Gun Violence Archive regards mass shootings as ones in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A 43-year-old man in the United States has been arrested for allegedly pointing a gun at a 6-year-old boy over Halloween candy. According to NBC News, the incident occurred on Saturday in New York. Michael Yifan Wen was arrested and charged with menacing and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, Nassau County police said in a statement. 

The incident began when a mother drove her daughter, two sons, and a nephew to a nearby residence to drop off a goody bag. Her 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son rang the doorbell and dropped off a Halloween goody bag on the porch for the girl’s friend. However, when the children returned to the car, the girl told her mother the address may have been incorrect, so they drove back, and the boy went to the porch to get the bag full of candy.

This is when the man opened the door and pointed a handgun at the boy’s head, the outlet reported. The Nassau County Police Department were immediately notified of the incident and the 43-year-old suspect was arrested. 

Mr Wen’s attorney, however, said that his client is presumed innocent. “These are just allegations,” the lawyer said. He also asked the public to refrain from jumping to conclusions “before the facts come out”. 

According to ABC News, the investigation into the incident is currently ongoing. 

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Meanwhile, this comes amid a time when US is reeling under the uncontrolled and widespread use of guns across the country which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians over the years. The country has recorded over 500 mass shootings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a non-governmental organization that defines a mass shooting as four or more people wounded or killed.

Notably, the recent shooting in Maine left 18 dead. This attack was the deadliest mass shooting in 2023 so far, according to the GVA’s data.

The Tampa Police Department and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office investigates a fatal shooting in the Ybor City neighborhood on October 29, 2023 in Tampa, Florida.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Police in Tampa, Florida, have arrested a man suspected of killing two people in gun violence that sparked chaos on Sunday around a clutch of bars and clubs as people celebrated Halloween, authorities said.

Sixteen people were injured, all but one by gunshot, police said.

Tyrell Stephen Phillips, 22, was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of a 14-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man following a pre-dawn clash between two groups in the historic Tampa neighborhood of Ybor City, police said.

The altercation unfolded as hundreds of people filled the streets as night spots closed after an evening of Halloween-themed celebrations, then scrambled for cover at the sound of gunfire.

Videos on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showed pandemonium as people ran through the dark while at least a dozen shots rang out. In some of the footage, police officers were seen hurrying to help people in costumes bleeding on sidewalks.

Two people were killed and 16 were taken to hospital with injuries, 15 of them with gunshot wounds, police said in a statement.

Many of the injured, who ranged in age from 18 to 27, were treated and released, but five remained in hospital, police said.

Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said witness tips to investigators played key role in helping police identify and arrest the suspected gunman. It was not clear if any other suspects were being sought.

Washington:

US Vice President Kamala Harris took on a new role Friday fighting gun violence, a job likely to give her more visibility ahead of the 2024 election. The 58-year-old Democrat will head up the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which will provide coordination on the issue but largely lacks any kind of enforceable power to tackle the scourge in a country that has more firearms than people. 

“We know true freedom is not possible if people are not safe,” Harris said in a statement announcing the new office. 

“We do not have a moment to spare nor a life to spare” while the United States is “torn apart” by gun violence, she said at the White House on Friday. 

“After every mass shooting, we hear a simple message, the same message all over the country,” she added, saying Americans are begging for their leaders to “‘do something, please do something.'”

Despite the new push, the White House does not have unilateral power to meaningfully limit gun use in the United States, such as by banning assault weapons. 

Any substantial moves would have to come from Congress, where fiercely anti-gun regulation Republicans control the House of Representatives. 

Biden has therefore tried to work around legislative requirements and imposed certain regulatory and administrative restrictions, which have only a limited scope. 

The new role adds a significant job to Harris’s portfolio just a little over a year ahead of the 2024 race, in which she and the 80-year-old president are facing re-election. 

The vice president has already been tasked with handling other politically sensitive issues such as immigration. 

Tackling gun violence gives the former California prosecutor the chance to work on a visible issue that often garners more widespread consensus from the American public. 

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-governmental organization, 44,374 people were killed by guns across the United States last year.

Gun deaths have slowed slightly this year, at 28,793 for the first eight months, according to the archive.

Harris — the first woman to become vice president as well as the first Black person and person of South Asian descent to hold the job — also recently embarked on the so-called Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour, in which she visited several US universities. 

She was generally received with enthusiasm, in contrast to her often-flagging favorability poll numbers. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)