During the December 6 airing of This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton made clear her position that gun control is part of the fight against terrorists.
Clinton suggested Congress needs to act in two immediate ways: 1. Add names on the no-fly list to background checks. 2. Pass expanded background checks like they have in California, Colorado, and Paris. But she highlighted additional controls she believes need to be passed, as well.
Stephanopoulos broached the subject of gun control, saying:
As you know, some of your Republican rivals have also criticized you for focusing on gun control after the San Bernardino attacks. Marco Rubio points out that France has some of the strictest gun control in the world.
That didn’t stop the Paris attacks. California has some of the strictest gun control laws here. It didn’t stop those attacks, either. So what law would have stopped this?
Well, first of all, what happened in San Bernardino was a terrorist act. Nobody is arguing with that. The law enforcement, FBI have come to that conclusion. And let’s not forget, though, a week before we had an American assault on Planned Parenthood and some weeks before that we had an assault at a community college.
So I don’t see these two as in anyway [sic] contradictory. We have to up our game against terrorists abroad and at home and we have to take account of the fact that our gun laws and the easy access to those guns by people who shouldn’t get them, mentally ill people, fugitives, felons and the Congress continuing to refuse to prohibit people on the no-fly list from getting guns, which include a lot of domestic and international terrorists, these are two parts of the same approach that I’m taking to make us safe.
And, yes, the NRA’s position always is, you know, if you can’t stop everything, why try to stop anything? That’s not the way law works. I mean, we have laws that are going to govern our speed limits on roads, knowing some people are going to violate it or people are going to drive drunk. But we still have laws. We need to have comprehensive background checks. We need to close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole, go after what’s call[ed] the Charleston loophole and end the [freedom from] liability for gun sellers.
Think about it: Stephanopoulos’ observation was that gun control failed to stop the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, both of which have expanded–or “comprehensive’–background checks. In light of that, he asked Clinton what she would do, and she said Congress needs to pass expanded–or “comprehensive”–background checks nationally and include the no-fly list in those checks. Stephanopoulos did not ask if the addition of the no-fly list to background checks would have stopped the San Bernardino attackers. If he had asked that question, the answer would have been “no,” as CNN has already reported that Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were not on “any list” tied to potential terrorists in the U.S.
Also, note Clinton’s ongoing war on gun shows, online gun sales, and the fictitious “Charleston loophole.” Moreover, note that she used the terror attack as a justification for holding “gun sellers” liable for actions committed with the guns they sell–even when those guns are purchased legally, as were the guns used in the San Bernardino attack.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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