Gun control

Clinton makes gun control a defining cause

Eight years after shying away from the firearms issue, the Democratic front-runner takes a more forceful stance.

By Annie Karni

From the stage in Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall last Sunday, Hillary Clinton scanned the balcony, spotted a group of women wearing “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America” T-shirts over their sweaters and waved her recognition.

Singling out the activists has become a regular occurrence on the campaign trail — a group of the Moms attend the majority of Clinton’s town halls and rallies, with a presence large enough to make it hard for the candidate to ignore. Clinton has met with them numerous times privately, where attendees said she has spoken emotionally about her concern for the future safety of her granddaughter, and taken their questions publicly at town halls.

Now, with yet another mass shooting striking fear across the country after a reported 14 people were killed and another 17 injured in a shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California, Clinton’s embrace of gun control is on the verge of becoming a defining issue in the campaign, with all the political benefits and detriments associated with confronting the National Rifle Association and 2nd Amendment activists across the country.

Traditionally, support for gun control rises in the wake of such shootings, but the politicians who push it sometimes end up paying a price down the line, as many gun-rights backers tend to be single-issue voters who equate even background checks at gun shows as unwarranted government intrusion in the right to bear arms.

“Every time there is a horrific shooting in this country, it brings new moms into the fold,” declared Shannon Watts, who founded Moms Demand Action after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where 20 children and six school staffers were killed.

But even in the wake of that terrible event, gun control legislation failed in Congress.

Now, however, President Barack Obama has become increasingly outspoken about the need for greater gun controls in the wake of mass shootings, and Clinton — the undisputed favorite for the Democratic nomination to succeed him — appears to be embracing the cause as well.

Clinton was on the campaign trail in Florida as the latest tragedy unfolded, talking about guns. "Ninety Americans a day die from gun violence, homicide, suicides, tragic avoidable accidents," Clinton said at a campaign stop in Orlando. She added, “33,000 Americans a year die. It is time for us to say we are going to have comprehensive background checks, we are gonna close the gun show loopholes."

Four years ago, gun control groups were begging for any attention they could get on the presidential campaign trail — and they didn’t get much.

“The opening we had was Aurora,” said Erika Soto Lamb, a spokeswoman for Everytown for Gun Safety, referring to the 2012 Colorado movie theater shooting in which 12 people were killed. The issue came up in one debate between Obama and Mitt Romney, she said, “but it was a blip, and there was a lot of push for that blip. Compared to this time around, it’s night and day.”

Since Aurora, there have been 68 mass shootings, according to Everytown. The rampage on Wednesday counted as the 21st mass shooting of 2015, Soto Lamb said.

For months before the election campaign began, gun safety groups were plotting how to force the issue to the forefront of the 2016 discussion. Everytown, a nonprofit backed by billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and affiliated with the Moms group, considered opening its own field offices in Iowa and New Hampshire to establish a presence the candidates could not ignore.

But the field offices were not necessary in the end, because of the boots on the ground: Moms Demand Action has attracted volunteers in every state.

“Candidates in 2016 are now running on gun safety, rather than away from it,” Watts said of the Democratic field. “Candidates are now wearing as a badge of honor their disdain for the NRA, rather than kowtowing to the pressure.”

The Moms are the most vocal activists on the campaign trail this cycle other than protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement, who have disrupted rallies and forced all of the Democratic candidates to address racial injustice.

But the Moms are also making themselves relevant in shaping the discussion on the trail, simply by showing up, everywhere. They have unfurled banners at Republican debates, questioned candidates at town halls and trailed after them around the Iowa State Fair.

“The survivors, family members of victims and dedicated advocates from across the country that make up the - coalition at Moms Demand Action are an inspiration to Hillary Clinton,” said campaign spokesman Jesse Ferguson. “Their strength and advocacy is building momentum for action.”

Clinton did not mention gun safety in her kickoff speech on Roosevelt Island last April, when she officially launched her campaign. But since then, gun violence prevention has become one of her central issues and holds a place at the top of her stump speech.

Last month, the campaign released a television ad focused solely on the issue. “This epidemic of gun violence knows no boundaries,” Clinton says in the ad, which uses footage pulled from a town hall meeting. “Between 88 and 92 people a day are killed by guns. We’re better than this. We need to close the loopholes and support universal background checks.” With a quiver in her voice, she adds: “How many people have to die before we actually act, before we come together as a nation?”

In the Democratic primaries, guns are also a winner for Clinton. Gun control is one of the very few issues where she can position herself to the left of her main Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders. And for the first time, perhaps, it is also seen by the campaign as a key issue that will increase voter turnout in a general election — even among independent and swing voters in the suburbs. A CBS News/New York Times poll released last month showed 92 percent of respondents were in favor of a federal law requiring backgrounds checks on all gun buyers.

What was once a political third rail for Democratic candidates, gun control has become an issue they can’t afford to ignore — in part because of pressure from advocacy groups.

“Because we're moms, people don't think of us as being cutting edge,” Watts said of the difference between the group’s quiet pressure and the more direct activism that defines the Black Lives Matter movement. “You think of your mom, you think of this soft and fuzzy image. But these moms are truly courageous and angry.”

Clinton, as well as Democratic rival Martin O’Malley, have singled out the National Rifle Association when asked whom they consider their enemies.

Clinton and O'Malley are both also calling for reinstating the assault weapons ban.

Clinton’s rhetoric has shifted dramatically since eight years ago, where she pitched herself as a duck hunter and protecter of the 2nd Amendment.

While the NRA is expected to channel its vast resources to fight any Democrat pushing gun control measures — and hopes infringing upon the 2nd Amendment will prove a loser with voters — Watts said her goal is to counteract that pressure by making gun control a litmus test issue for voters.

“I'm a single-issue voter now,” she said. “What we’re saying is, how can I be worried about the economy and health care and education and jobs when I don't know my 6-year-old is going to make it home from school? That's where I'm at.”