Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton defended her calls for sweeping gun safety legislation during the third Democratic Saturday, claiming that arming Americans “will not Americans safer.”
“More Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong?” Martha Raddatz, one of two ABC News anchors moderating the debate, asked Clinton.
“You have to look at both the terrorist challenge that we face abroad, and certainly at home, and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us,” Clinton responded, failing to deliver a direct answer.
“Secretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control?” Raddatz interjected.
“I’m getting to that. Guns in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer,” Clinton said. “We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence. Arming more people to do that, is not the appropriate response to terrorism.”
The former secretary of state continued, “I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from Republicans, specifically Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the U.S. and around the world that there is a clash of civilizations, that there is some kind of Western plot or even war against Islam – which the I believe fans the flames of radicalization.”
“So I believe guns need to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we’re going to deal with the radicalization here in the U.S.,” she said.
Clinton announced a comprehensive gun control plan in mid-October which included a pledge to outlaw certain semi-automatic firearms and levy additional restrictions on gun owners and dealers.
