Clinton seizes on gun violence to offer plan
She seeks to set herself apart from GOP, rival Sanders.
Hillary Clinton seized on recent gun violence Monday, detailing a gun control plan that sets herself apart from Republicans and differentiates her from Sen. Bernie Sanders, her insurgent rival for the Democratic nomination.
At a town hall gathering in New Hampshire, Clinton called for an expansion of background checks for those who seek to buy firearms. Proposing a mix of legislative and executive action, the former secretary of state is seeking regulations that would tighten loopholes for online sales and gunshow sales, block sales to domestic abusers and the mentally ill, and hold gun dealers accountable for where they land.
Clinton’s proposals come less than a week after a shooting at a community college in Oregon, which killed nine people, reignited the debate about gun control and Second Amendment protections. Clinton has spoken about the need for tightened gun laws since the murder of nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in June.
Republicans running for president have remained steadfast in their beliefs that gun violence is a mental health issue and that law-abiding Americans have a right to protect themselves.
For Clinton, the issue is an opportunity to present herself as the most proactive Democratic candidate on gun control.
Most of the shootings in the country “don’t make the headlines,” Clinton said. “Homicides, accidents and suicides, and there are more than 33,000 a year. If anything else were killing 33,000 of our people, we would all come together and say, ‘Hey, what are we going to do about this?’”
“I think we’ve got to as a nation do exactly what you said — enough,” she said to a woman in the audience who had brought up the topic.
Clinton called for universal background checks and tightening other laws.
“I don’t blame you for looking at your 9-yearold son and thinking, ‘Do I have to tell him to be scared, to have duckand-cover exercises in your school in the United States of America?’” she said to the woman. “That’s just wrong, and I’m determined to do something about it.”
On Sunday, former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland scolded Clinton and Sanders for failing to be sufficiently vocal on the matter. During an event in New Hampshire, he called for fingerprinting and licensing for anyone who buys a gun and for changing the laws so that trafficking illegal guns is a federal crime. He also urged the federal government to refuse to buy guns from manufacturers that do not use all safety technology available, such as microstamping.
“I’m asking supporters of Senator Sanders to please urge Senator Sanders to back these four common-sense provisions that I just laid out to reduce gun violence,” O’Malley said. “And I am asking the supporters of Secretary Clinton to please urge Secretary Clinton to back the specific provisions that I just laid out.”
Gun control is a more difficult issue for Sanders, who has been gaining on Clinton in national polls and leading her in some surveys in New Hampshire and Iowa.
The independent from Vermont has a mixed record on the issue, having voted against the Brady Bill in the 1990s and opposing legislation that would have allowed lawsuits against gun companies.