Hillary Clinton will pledge to close background check loopholes and allow victims to sue gun manufacturers at two town halls in New Hampshire on Monday, according to an aide.
Clinton has been outspoken on gun control throughout her presidential campaign, but recently amped up her calls in light of last week’s shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, where 10 people were killed, including the gunman.
Clinton will pledge to work with Congress to tighten background checks around firearms purchased at gun shows and on the Internet, an aide said. If Congress won’t act Clinton “will take administrative action to require that any person attempting to sell a significant number of guns be deemed ‘in the business’ of selling firearms,” the aide said, meaning they will fall under background check laws.
Under current law, gun buyers are allowed to purchase weapons from private “occasional” sellers without background checks.
Clinton would also push Congress to close a background check loophole that allows a gun sale to proceed without a background check being fully completed.
The loophole — called the Charleston Loophole — refers to the June shooting that killed nine worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, where the assailant legally purchased a gun despite a previous drug offense. Rep. James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, has proposed a bill in Congress to close the loophole, too.
After the Oregon shooting, Clinton called for “new, effective gun control measures” in a speech that blasted the National Rifle Association.
“What is wrong with us that we can’t stand up to the NRA and the gun lobby and the gun manufacturers,” Clinton said to sustained applause at a speech in Davie, Florida. “This is not just tragic. We don’t just need to pray for people, we need to act. We need to build a movement.”
Clinton also blasted Republicans, arguing they “put the NRA ahead of American families.”
Clinton will reiterate those same sentiments about the NRA on Monday, and will pledge to repeal the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act,” a law signed by President George W. Bush in 2005 that outlawed victims of firearm violence from suing gun manufacturers and dealers. As senator from New York, Clinton voted against the law.
On Monday, Clinton will also call for legislation that prohibits all domestic abusers from buying a weapon.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, also a Democratic presidential candidate, outlined his own gun proposals on Sunday in New Hampshire, calling for an assault weapons ban and a national database of gun owners.
