Hillary Clinton goes after Donald Trump, gun lobby
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton attacked Donald Trump's proposals on firearms Saturday as dangerous for America's children, just one day after the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee garnered the endorsement of the National Rifle Association.
"Donald Trump said that in his very first hour as president, heaven forbid, he would overturn President [Barack] Obama's actions to strengthen background checks," Clinton said, speaking at the Trayvon Martin Foundation's "Circle of Mothers" dinner in Fort Lauderdale. "Then, Mr. Trump went further. He said that also on his first day in office he'd mandate that every school in America allow guns in classrooms. Every school, he said. That idea isn't just way out there, it's dangerous."
Clinton said that schools "should have the right to keep guns out of classrooms, just like Donald Trump does at many of his hotels."
Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, founded the Circle of Mothers to bring together women who have lost children to gun violence. Fulton, a Clinton supporter, has campaigned for her throughout the primary season and, ahead of the event, Clinton met privately with 60 mothers who, like Fulton, have suffered the loss of a family member.
"If you want to imagine what Trump's America will look like, picture more kids at risk of violence and bigotry," she said. "Picture more anger and fear. Ask any of the mothers here tonight if they want to live in that kind of America."
On Friday, Trump sharply criticized Clinton's policies during a speech to the NRA's annual Leadership Forum, claiming that Clinton would "abolish" the Second Amendment if elected.
"Crooked Hillary Clinton is the most anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment candidate ever to run for office," Trump said.
Clinton is in favor of universal background checks, closing loopholes which make it easier for people to purchase guns and reversing the law that gives gun manufacturers immunity. But Clinton has not proposed scrapping the right to bear arms.
At their Kentucky meeting, the NRA also ramped up its own attacks of Clinton. Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the NRA, warned that a Clinton administration would mean "you can kiss your guns goodbye." Chris Cox, the NRA's executive director, later added that Clinton would put "a radical gun activist in Scalia's seat as soon as she can," referring to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February.
Clinton emphasized in her remarks that she wouldn't bow to pressure from the gun lobby, which she called the most powerful lobby in Washington.
"Unlike Donald Trump, I will not pander to the gun lobby and we will not be silenced and we will not be intimidated," she said. "As long as children anywhere are being killed by gun violence, we will keep fighting."
She praised individual mothers that she has met on the campaign trail, including the mothers of Jordan Davis and Sandra Bland, for their "commitment" and "leadership," which Clinton said has inspired her.
"Something is wrong when so many young people just starting their lives are dying," she said. "Something is very wrong, my friends, and this election gives us a chance to keep trying to make it right."