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Hillary Clinton on Gun Control
"There's got to be some way that we can balance the constitutional rights of hunters and target shooters and collectors and everybody who wants to and really appreciates being a gun owner with the safety of people who are just out Christmas shopping.... I think we've got to take a look at what the laws are today, and make sure we are enforcing them to the fullest extent of the law, using technology, making it clear that we're going to try as hard as we can to keep guns away from people who shouldn't have them."
"I remember very well when I accompanied Bill to Columbine after that massacre and met with the family members of those who had been killed and talked with the students, and feeling that we had to do more to try to keep guns out of the hands of the criminal and of the mentally unstable. And during the Clinton administration, that was a goal--not to, in any way, violate people's Second Amendment rights, but to try to limit access to people who should not have guns. Unfortunately, we saw the tragedy unfold at Virginia Tech. We now know that the background check system didn't work, because certainly this shooter, as he's called, had been involuntarily committed as a threat to himself and others. And, yet, he could walk in and buy a gun."
South Carolina 2007 Democratic primary debate, on MSNBC Apr 26, 2007
"We need to stand firm on behalf of sensible gun control legislation. We have to enact laws that will keep guns out of the hand of children and criminals and mentally unbalanced persons. Congress should have acted before our children started going back to school. I realize the NRA is a formidable political group; but I believe the American people are ready to come together as a nation and do whatever it takes to keep guns away from people who shouldn't have them."
www.hillary2000.org, Gun Safety Sep 9, 2000
Clinton Co-sponsored the "Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2005," which failed to become a law.
S. 645 [109th]: Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2005
In 1992 Hillary Clinton supported a federal ban on semi-automatic firearms before the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was passed in 1993 and signed by President Clinton.
I remember very well when I accompanied Bill to Columbine after that massacre and met with the family members of those who had been killed and talked with the students, and feeling that we had to do more to try to keep guns out of the hands of the criminal and of the mentally unstable. And during the Clinton administration, that was a goal--not to, in any way, violate people's Second Amendment rights, but to try to limit access to people who should not have guns. Unfortunately, we saw the tragedy unfold at Virginia Tech. We now know that the background check system didn't work, because certainly this shooter, as he's called, had been involuntarily committed as a threat to himself and others. And, yet, he could walk in and buy a gun.
South Carolina 2007 Democratic primary debate, on MSNBC Apr 26, 2007
If elected to the Senate, Mrs. Clinton said she'd work with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) on her bill that would require prospective gun buyers to first obtain a gun license by passing a background check and a safety course exam. The bill would also establish a national registry to record all gun sales. Mrs. Clinton also announced her support for the creation of a "ballistic database" for all new guns, requiring gun makers or sellers to fire guns before sale and send that "ballistic fingerprint" to law enforcement.