Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose campaign has shifted to a full assault on the National Rifle Association, suggested Wednesday that she wants guns kept inside the homes of Americans.
Broadening her attack beyond guns used in crimes, she told a Philadelphia audience that Americans also have too many guns in their homes.
In a state well-known for its love of hunting and sport shooting, not just city street and gang crimes, Clinton said to applause, “When it comes to guns, we have just too many guns. On the streets, in our homes, in our neighborhoods. And, you know, there’s been a lot of talk in this campaign, in the primary campaign, about the power of certain interests in our country. And we do have a bunch of powerful interests, make no mistake about it. But there is no more powerful lobby than the gun lobby.”
A key National Rifle Association board member immediately warned that the self defense of Americans could be at stake. Grover Norquist, also the founder of Americans for Tax Reform, told Secrets that Clinton’s attack on guns at home “gets straight to the issue of self defense.”
Clinton in the past has also said that too many people have guns, and Norquist noted that she hasn’t refined that comment to “too many of the wrong people have guns.”
Add the two statements together, he said, should be a huge concern to legal gun owners.
In Philadelphia, Clinton heard stories of victims of gun crimes and concluded, “I only guarantee you that I will do everything that I can imagine…to keep working for justice.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
