Hillary Clinton to bypass Congress with gun control plan, asks gun owners to reject NRA

‘Let’s take back the second amendment from these extremists’

(Jim Cole/Associated Press)

Hillary Clinton has released her plan to curb gun violence in the US, less than one week after the deadly shooting that took nine lives at Oregon's Umpqua Community College.

“I’ve got no problem with people who are responsible gun owners. There are millions of them,” she said during her town hall in New Hampshire on NBC’s Today show. “Let’s do everything we can to make sure the irresponsible and the criminal and the mentally ill don’t get guns.”

Ms Clinton’s proposal seeks to close background loopholes, allow victims to sue gun manufacturers, prevent domestic abusers from purchasing weapons and most notably — use executive action if Congress won’t act. She cited the recent killings at Charleston South Carolina's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, where the gunman took advantage of a background check loophole. If the check is not completed within three days, the sale is able to proceed.

"How many people have to die before we actually act, before we come together as a nation?"

Jim Cole/Associated Press (Jim Cole/Associated Press)

In New Hampshire, she trails rival Bernie Sanders by 12 percent, according to the latest NBC/WSJ/Marist poll. The plan creates fault lines between the two candidates, as Mr Sanders has been typically lax on gun control laws, although his campaign does support universal background checks for gun retailers.

Ms Clinton is also promising to make straw purchasing — when someone with a clean record buys a gun for a violent felon — a federal crime. She admit her proposals are "not new. There's nothing unique about them other than the fact that I am so determined."

"It’s time for us to say, wait a minute. We’re better than this. Our country is better than this.”

She also called on gun owners to reject the National Rifle Association, the nation's powerful lobbying arm who reportedly spent $37 million in 2014, by beginning a new organisation that supports better regulations for firearms. The former secretary of state said that she wants to begin a national movement to counter the NRA's influence.

“Let’s take back the second amendment from these extremists.”