Harris attacked knife company? No, post is fabricated | Fact check

An Oct. 27 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows what appears to be a post on X, formerly Twitter, from a legitimate media outlet. It includes side-by-side images of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and a pocketknife that bears the name of her opponent, former President Donald Trump, on its handle.
“BREAKING: Kamala Harris CONTINUES to call out knife company @TacticalBladesUSA for selling ‘evil instruments,’” reads text in the supposed screenshotted post.
The Instagram post received more than 300 likes in a day. Similar versions accumulated hundreds of additional likes.
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The screenshotted X post is a fabrication. There is no record of it on the social media account that supposedly shared it. That account does not belong to a legitimate news outlet and has not shared any posts since 2012. There is no credible evidence Harris made the statement attributed to her.
The screenshotted X post shared to Instagram purportedly came from an account belonging to a media outlet called “News 4 Live.” It shows what appears to be a TV station’s logo in its profile image along with a blue badge to indicate it is verified.
The Instagram post uses the supposed Harris slight to urge users to support the company “and show Kamala that we won’t let her control us.” The post text includes a link to the company and a coupon code for 10% off.
But this sales pitch is built on a falsehood.
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There is no record of the post on the @news4 account that supposedly shared it. That account is not a news account and has neither a blue check nor a profile picture. Its most recent post was shared in 2012, and all 19 of its posts were written in Turkish. The “News 4 Live News” logo shown in the screenshot does not trace to any legitimate news outlet.
There also is no credible evidence the vice president has ever attacked Tactical Blades – the company offering the Trump-branded knife shown in the post for $49.99 – or any other knife company for selling “evil instruments.” The post does not provide a source for the purported quote. Its use of “continues” indicates an assertion that she has publicly criticized the company at least twice. However, no reliable news outlets have reported that Harris has ever made the statement about any knife-maker.
Harris, a gun owner, has made gun control a key part of her policy platform. She has proposed bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, along with universal background checks and red-flag laws – policies that conservative critics argue would undermine the Second Amendment. But while some commenters linked those gun proposals to the claim in the post, there is no credible evidence that Harris has ever suggested extending those proposed regulations to knives.
USA TODAY previously debunked false claims that Harris said she would “end the Second Amendment” and that a spokesperson for her campaign said the vice president does not own a gun.
USA TODAY reached out to spokespeople for the Harris campaign and to the Instagram user who shared the post but did not immediately receive any responses.
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