Hillary Clinton believes Americans need to be as worried about gun violence as they are about terrorism.

"[I]t's not only terrorists we need to be worried about," Clinton said in an interview published Thursday afternoon by AARP.

The Democratic nominee's remarks came as she explained she has a plan to combat both terrorism as well as the broader issue of gun violence in the U.S.

Clinton was prompted by the question: "What would you do to address terrorism?"

"Well, these are legitimate fears. I believe that people are rightly concerned about violence. Terrorism is part of that violence, and we have to do the best job we can to keep America safe," Clinton responded.

The presidential candidate continued, pointing to her plan to go hard after terrorist groups like the Islamic State with traditional warfare as well as with cyberattacks.

"But I'm looking at violence broadly," Clinton added. "It's also why I've advocated gun-safety reform, like comprehensive background checks, closing the gun-show loophole, closing the online loophole — because, you know, it's not only terrorists we need to be worried about.

"Terrorism is part of it, but gun violence kills 33,000 Americans a year ... We've got to get serious about stemming violence and terrorism in every way we can," she said.

Later in the interview, the Democratic nominee took a shot at the gun lobby.

"How would you deal with the gridlock in Washington?" her interviewer asked.

Clinton responded, and said, "People elected have to pay attention to those they represent as opposed to powerful lobbies, like the gun lobby for example.

"So that's why I talk about these issues all through the campaign, because I want everybody to know clearly: Here's where I stand, and if you vote for me, I'm going to do everything I can to deal with these problems that have been gridlocked," she said.