Clinton releases gun control ad as part of election campaign

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton released her first ad targeting gun control yesterday, a month after pledging to take on the powerful US gun lobby.

The 30-second spot uses footage from an October 5 town hall in New Hampshire where Clinton said she would pursue expanded background checks and take steps to hold manufacturers accountable for crimes committed with their weapons.

“This epidemic of gun violence knows no boundaries. Between 88 and 92 people a day are killed by guns. We’re better than this. We need to close the loopholes and support universal background checks,” Clinton says in the clip.

“How many people have to die before we actually act? Before we come together as a nation?”

The ad, titled Together, will air in the early presidential primary voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire as part of a previously announced purchase, Clinton’s campaign said.

Clinton spoke about gun safety at town halls in Iowa yesterday, her campaign staff said.

The former US senator from New York announced her plan to curb gun violence days after a gunman killed nine people and wounded another nine on the campus of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. She said she wanted to build a national movement to counter the influence of the National Rifle Association, the leading US gun rights advocacy group.