At the MSNBC town hall, Hillary Clinton took on the NRA and the gun lobby and urged Democrats to vote against anyone who caves on guns.
Transcript via MSNBC:
CLINTON: Well, in the last month he has come out with some very tough regulations and getting those implemented — and I hope he gets them done before he leaves but I will certainly make sure they are — they’re executive orders. They have to be re-introduced and signed with a new president. That will give us a base we haven’t had before to build on. If we take back the Senate which I believe we can and you here in Pennsylvania have a real opportunity to help us take back the Senate by …
(APPLAUSE)
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CLINTON: Electing a Democrat — that the Democrats have decided they will be led by Chuck Schumer (ph) and Chuck Schumer (ph) has been one of the most effective legislators in taking on the gun lobby. He and I work together to get the Brady bill passed way back in my husband’s administration. So I think that it’s the kind of issue you have to start early, you have to work on it every day and we need to make it a voting issue.
We were talking about people not showing up in midterm. Well, that’s when you can hold legislators, members of Congress accountable with — if they continue to be intimidated by the gun lobby and indeed here in Pennsylvania and I see my friend Red Rendell (ph) there — the legislature in Pennsylvania has passed some of the worse kind of legislation favoring the gun lobby. It’s just outrageous.
And you have these killings going on in Philadelphia and it wasn’t just this weekend. Last weekend 12 people were shot, four people were killed. There was a man executed on the streets here in Philadelphia. Talking to somebody, running for office. This is out of control and if anything were killing 33,000 Americans a year we would all be working as hard as we could to save lives.
I am determined we’re going to save lives and we’re going to do it by taking on the gun lobby and getting common sense gun safety measures. But we’re also going to do it by addressing the gun violence culture. Too many young in particular are turning to guns to settle disputes, grievances, resentments. We have got to help our young people understand guns are never an answer and there have to be other ways. And that’s going to take all of us working in our schools, working through our churches and our houses of worship.
We’ve got to break the grip of the gun culture on our young people because the number one leading cause of death for young African American men are guns. It outranks the next nine together so this is a — this is a health issue, a safety issue, a cultural issue, and I’m going at it from the very first day. I’m going to keep talking about it, and we are going to make it clear that this has to be a voting issue. If you care about this issue, vote against people who give in to the NRA and the gun lobby all the time.
Pennsylvania is a very big hunting state, but Hillary Clinton is on her way to potentially win the Democratic primary by double digits. Clinton has taken a courageous stand against the gun lobby and the NRA all through her presidential campaign.
The former Sec. of State has demonstrated that she is willing to fight one of the most powerful special interests in the country. Most candidates for office have shied away from discussing guns and violence, but Hillary Clinton has accepted the challenge.
The NRA has spent years fearmongering about President Obama, but it is Hillary Clinton who may be the relentless foe that the gun lobby has been dreading.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
