Donald Trump is trying his best to convince voters that Hillary Clinton poses a direct threat to citizens’ right to own guns.
“Hillary essentially wants to abolish the Second Amendment,” Trump said at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on August 2. (The accusation, which regularly features in Trump’s stump speech, has been rated “False” by the fact-checking website PolitiFact.)
This argument seems to be premised on the idea that Clinton would appoint anti-gun justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, and that these judges would unwind the historic Heller decision, which affirmed for the first time the right of private citizens to keep and own firearms. It echoes rhetoric from the National Rifle Association, which has become an unlikely ally of the Manhattan billionaire, who has previously voiced support for gun restrictions.
Clinton, for her part, has made gun policy reform an unprecedented focal point of her campaign — a stark change from her 2008 nomination fight, when she actively courted hunters and gun owners, and avoided taking stances that might invoke the wrath of the NRA.
The candidate’s website lays out a multifaceted gun plan, and nearly a full evening of the Democratic National Convention was dedicated to survivors and victims of gun violence. Clinton has said that she does not want to deprive law-abiding gun owners of their rights, that her goal instead is simply to make sure that criminals and other people who shouldn’t own guns are prevented from doing so.
“I’m not here to take away your guns,” Clinton said during her speech at the DNC. “I just don’t want you to be shot by someone who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place.”
Here is what Clinton has said about gun reform on the stump in this election, and the specific policy proposals she has championed.
Universal background checks
“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.”
–CAMPAIGN RALLY IN IOWA CITY, JULY 2015
Clinton pledges to implement universal background checks on gun sales, and prohibit domestic abusers and individuals who have been involuntarily committed to outpatient mental health treatment centers from buying firearms.
Open carry laws
“What about the young mom with her two kids who’s in a supermarket, and some guy gets to come in with a — you know — an AK-47 over his back because he’s got a new permit that permits him to walk around and threaten and intimidate and scare the heck out of that young mother and her children? I don’t get it.”
–FACEBOOK, AUGUST 2015
This anecdote falls in line with statements she made at a private fundraiser the following month. While Clinton speaks derisively of open carry policies, she hasn’t directly said that she favors repealing them.
Second Amendment rights
“We’ve got to do something. It’s a very difficult political issue. But we are smart enough, compassionate enough to balance legitimate Second Amendment rights concerns with preventive measures and control measures, so whatever motivated this murderer … we will not see more needless, senseless deaths.”
–CAMPAIGN EVENT IN ANKENY, IOWA, AUGUST 2015
After the shooting of a reporter and cameraman on live television in Virginia, Clinton reaffirmed her support for the Second Amendment while pushing for certain gun restrictions like universal background checks.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider