In a speech Monday in Cleveland, presumptive Democaratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called for stricter gun regulations and laid out her approach to fighting terrorism while mourning the shooting deaths of 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Nick Castele of member station WCPN in Cleveland reports.
Clinton referred to the Orlando shooter as “a madman filled with hate, with guns in his hands,” who was “apparently consumed by rage against LGBT Americans.”
Clinton said people being investigated by the FBI for possible links to terrorism, as the shooter was in 2013, should not be allowed to purchase guns. And she renewed Democrats’ call to bar people on the no-fly list from buying firearms.
She called it essential to prevent the sort of weapons used in Orlando and San Bernardino from getting into the hands of terrorists.
“I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets,” Clinton said.
She said the country should work with Muslim communities to prevent terror, rather than, in her words, scapegoating them. Without mentioning Republican candidate Donald Trump, Clinton rebutted his proposed ban on Muslim entry to the country.
“Anti-Muslim rhetoric, and threatening to ban the families and friends of Muslim-Americans, as well as millions of Muslim businesspeople and tourists from entering our country, hurts the vast majority of Muslims who love freedom and hate terror,” she said.
And to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans who are mourning the attack in Orlando, Clinton said, “You have millions of allies.”
