A domestic violence survivor is calling on Kamala Harris to meet with her after becoming “frustrated” by an attempt to ask the 2020 contender a question directly.

Kerry Slone reached out to the California Democrat on social media after posting a video showing how she was physically blocked by Harris’s staff from asking her about so called red flag laws and their effects on domestic violence survivors.

Slone, who founded We The Female, an organization to teach women about gun safety, attempted to speak to the Democratic presidential candidate at a “Gun Safety Roundtable” in Seattle, Wash., last weekend.

“Mrs. Harris, I’m a domestic violence survivor, and I’d like to talk to you about ERPOs,” she said, referring to the red flag laws known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders. “OK. Let’s have that chat.”

Though the women made eye contact, and Harris appeared to nod for a moment, Slone appeared to get blocked by campaign staff who prevented her from engaging any further with the senator.

“Ladies and gentlemen: One of your presidential candidates!” Slone wrote on Facebook where she posted the video of the encounter. “Sen. Harris claims to be a powerful advocate for women’s rights, however can’t seem to find the time to walk away from a photo op to briefly discuss her support of unconstitutional ERPO laws.”

Slone gave a “tip” to politicians like Harris: “DO NOT tell women you support their right to choose when you refuse to support their right to choose how they defend themselves.”

The video showed how Slone was physically blocked by the staffers and how she called them out.

“On short notice, after hearing that she was going to be in Seattle, I realized that this presented a possible opportunity for civil discourse regarding Extreme Risk Protection Orders. Recently, Sen. Harris has been incredibly vocal on her concerns about domestic abuse and gun violence, as well as taken an aggressive stand on gun control, so if possible, I wanted the opportunity to express what I have come to discover as the serious, unforeseen negative impacts of ERPOs and perhaps to share a different perspective,” Slone told Townhall.

“It was not until after it became obvious that I would not be granted the opportunity to discuss that I became frustrated by the ordeal,” she added. “Instead of just accepting the let-down, I chose to use the internet to highlight my experience with the hope of possibly being granted a follow-on opportunity.”

Slone would still like to meet with Harris and others about what she sees as the negative impact of ERPOs.

“This goes beyond politics — this is about communicating the potential dangers that ERPOs could result in,” she said.

“While well intended, these laws are short-sighted, and do not address the unforeseen negative impact on survivors. Legislation at all level are common in that they fail to fully specify what constitutes justification for a suspension of liberty. The onus resides fully with the court system, which varies greatly across the nation regarding consistency,” she added.

“Given the tense political environment, I fear that every request would be granted under a ‘better safe than sorry’ mentality, instead of actual review. This creates situations in which these laws could be purposely exploited in order to create harm or instill fear,” she continued.

Slone let the Harris campaign team know about her frustrations after they reached out to her in an email attempting to get feedback.

Her treatment by the staffers who blocked her “clearly indicated Senator Harris’ complete lack of compassion or interest in the experiences and viewpoints of voters,” Slone wrote in her email response, which she shared on Facebook.

“This behavior only reinforces the widely accepted thought that all politicians are only focused on their own personal interests,” she added.

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Frieda Powers

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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