Vice President Kamala Harris, who oversees the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, has played a prominent role in the Biden administration’s gun policy work. Now, as the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president, she’s in the process of choosing her own running mate, who may also be entrusted to guide the gun reform agenda of her ticket and the work of her administration if she’s elected.
But where do the leading Democratic vice president contenders stand on guns? Below, we explore the records of each.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
A gun owner and former member of the Army National Guard, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz assumed office in 2019. Of the governors on the list of potential contenders, Walz has one of the most unlikely gun reform records.
Before he became governor, Walz was a member of Congress for 12 years — and a gun rights supporter who received an “A” grade and campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association. But after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, he denounced the NRA in an editorial and donated the $18,000 the group had given him to a veterans organization.
As governor, Walz navigated a one-vote majority in the state Senate and a narrow margin in the state House to enact significant gun reforms in 2023. The measures he signed into law included universal background checks, a red flag law, and one of the largest investments in community-based violence prevention programs of any state to date.
U.S. Senator Mark Kelly
Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy captain, has represented his state since winning a special election in 2020. He secured re-election in 2022. Kelly’s life is deeply intertwined with gun reform advocacy. He co-founded Giffords, a gun violence prevention organization, with his wife, former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, who survived a 2011 mass shooting.
Despite his gun reform bonafides, Kelly has maintained a low profile on gun issues since joining the Senate, rarely making public statements on the topic. But Kelly has worked behind the scenes, playing a role in negotiating the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major gun safety legislation signed into law in three decades. He has cosponsored unsuccessful bills to expand background checks, ban rapid-fire bump stocks that make semiautomatic weapons fire more like machine guns, and require safer storage of firearms. Most recently, he cosponsored a bill that would regulate gas-operated semiautomatic firearms, a class of weapons that encompasses many guns commonly referred to as assault weapons.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro assumed office in 2023. He served as the state attorney general from 2017 to 2023 and was a state representative from 2005 to 2012, and previously worked as a corporate lawyer.
As governor, he’s publicly supported universal background checks and a red flag law, though they haven’t passed his state’s Republican-controlled Legislature. In his budget in July, he set aside millions in funding for violence intervention programs, after-school learning opportunities, the construction of parks and community spaces, and security measures for houses of worship and community centers. He also created a state Office of Gun Violence Prevention through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper assumed office in 2017. A rare Democratic chief executive in a state that has voted for Republican presidential candidates in every election but one since 1980, Cooper won reelection in 2020 and is finishing his second term. Before becoming governor, he served as the state’s attorney general.
A Republican supermajority controls North Carolina’s Legislature, so Cooper’s power to push any significant gun reforms has been limited. But he’s used his veto power to counter attempts to loosen gun restrictions. In 2023, he vetoed the repeal of a state law that required people to obtain a permit before purchasing handguns, but the Legislature overrode him. He also launched an initiative to encourage North Carolinians to more safely store their firearms. As attorney general, he spearheaded a law after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting that requires court clerks to report involuntary mental health commitments — a prohibiting factor for gun possession — to the federal background check system. From 1987 to 2001 he served in the state Legislature, where he helped pass a bill that implemented penalties for minors who bring guns to school.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear assumed office in 2019. A former Kentucky attorney general, he’s another rare Democratic red-state governor. But, like Cooper, his Legislature has a Republican supermajority, so his power is limited.
Beshear has described himself as a “strong supporter” of the Second Amendment. As a candidate, he supported a red flag law, but not an assault weapons ban, saying he didn’t believe it was “right for Kentucky.” A friend of Beshear’s was killed in the 2023 Louisville bank shooting, and two other friends survived. Shortly after that shooting, he allowed a “Second Amendment Sanctuary” bill to become law without his signature, saying he didn’t think it would hold up to legal scrutiny. Gun laws figured prominently in his 2023 reelection campaign, where he reiterated his support for red flag laws. “Everyone should be able to defend themselves and their family,” Beshear said during an October 2023 debate. “But I’ve now understood, seen and felt what it’s like to lose someone you love and care about in this city to gun violence.” He won reelection by 5 percentage points, a larger margin than in 2019.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has a limited record on gun reform, but he’s been vocal about his views. Like some of the other contenders, Buttigieg has a military background, including a deployment to Afghanistan as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
During his 2020 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Buttigieg expressed support for a number of big-ticket gun reform policies, including universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons, red flag laws, and closing the Charleston loophole, which allows dealers to sell a gun after three business days even if a background check isn’t finished.
He’s also criticized politicians who blame gun violence on factors other than guns. After the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Buttigieg told ABC, “The idea that us, being the only developed country where this happens routinely, especially in terms of the mass shootings, is somehow a result of the design of the doorways on our school buildings is the definition of insanity, if not the definition of denial.”
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker assumed office in 2019 and was reelected in 2022. His tenure as governor has been marked by a number of wins for the gun reform movement.
After his inauguration, he signed a law tightening regulations on gun dealers, including a requirement that they be certified by the state. In 2021, he approved a law implementing universal background checks and streamlining the Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) system, which governs the state permits required to legally possess firearms and ammunition in Illinois. He also signed a bill establishing an Office of Firearm Violence Prevention and allowing Medicaid funds to be used to fund hospital-based violence intervention programs. After his reelection in 2023, he signed a ban on assault weapons and ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds for pistols and 10 rounds for rifles.
Other Possibilities
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has reportedly been considered but has said she is not interested. Other potential contenders have also been floated, including Maryland Governor Wes Moore, former U.S. Representative Cedric Richmond, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
