Town Hall Thread (Hillary's Group)

[MSMITH33156]

29. Here's the transcript

Good evening, Secretary Clinton.



My question is on March 4th, and I regret to inform you this, there were two separate shootings involving four children. The first incident involved a 7-year-old boy being killed, his 5-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister were also wounded. This incident was actually a gang-related retaliation shooting.



The second incident was a 5-year-old boy being shot while he actually lay asleep in bed, and he is still in the hospital now as we speak.



My question to you is, as president, what programs would you implement in poverty-stricken communities in this country, in an effort to decrease this type of violence?



CLINTON: You know, I want - I want everybody to know what you know, which is that on average 90 people a day are killed by guns in our country, that is 33,000 people a year. And a shocking number of those killed and injured are children, some of them intentionally, and some of them accidentally.



So here's what I believe with all of my heart, because I think that we are in a crisis when it comes to gun violence. It is truly an epidemic. And there is no doubt in my mind that we've got to do more to get more common sense gun safety reforms enacted in America.



So I'm not saying that what I propose will solve everything, but I believe, and there is evidence for this, that failing to do anything, which is what we are doing right now, will only lead to more terrible loss of life.



So we do need comprehensive background checks, and we need to close these loopholes, the so-called gun show loophole, the online loophole, what's now called the "Charleston loophole."



A lot of the guns that are used for the kind of random gun violence that we see too much of in so many communities are obtained illegally. They are obtained from sellers who don't really care where the guns end up or what they're used for.



And we've got to crack down on the makers and sellers of guns. They should be held accountable for the use of their products and exercise more care as to how they end up in the hands of the people who use them.



We have to end what this terrible law that was passed when I was in the Senate. I voted against it. My opponent voted for it, which gave immunity from liability to gun-makers and sellers.



Right now the parents of the Sandy Hook victims are trying to sue the gun-maker and seller, as much as anything to try to do whatever they can to turn their grief into…



Right now the parents of the Sandy Hook victims are trying to sue the gun-maker and seller, as much as anything to try to do whatever they can to turn their grief into action and prevent other families from experiencing the horror of what they went through.



We have with us tonight some of the mothers of the movement, mothers who have lost their children to violence, to police violence, and to senseless gun violence. And I've gotten to know and just admire these women so much.



And when you hear their stories or when you hear the stories, like you just told us, about children being killed, it - you just cry out and say, what are we doing as a country?



And I believe what I am proposing is common sense. I agree with what the president is trying to do. And the obstacle is the gun lobby. And the gun lobby exists for the purpose of scaring and intimidating people into doing what they want done.



So we've got to figure out how we come together to try to take this on. And, you know, maybe I've just - I've just met too many families now who have lost loved ones to gun violence, in some of the big mass shootings literally from Columbine to Sandy Hook to Aurora in Colorado, just the list goes on.



The nine victims in Mother Emanuel murdered by a young man they welcomed into their Bible study, and he was so driven by hatred and racism. He sat there, listened to the scripture and then pulled out the gun, he should not have been able to get except for one of the loopholes, and murdered those nine faithful people.



So I'm going to take them on. I don't know how much we can get done, but I am sick and tired of these murders and killings and random horrible incidents of gun violence.

http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/03/13/full-rush-transcript-hillary-clinton-partcnn-tv-one-democratic-presidential-town-hall/