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FLORENCE, S.C. — Hillary Clinton began a whirlwind day in South Carolina on Thursday by taking questions from some 400 African-Americans in Kingstree, where in 1996 President Bill Clinton attended a dedication for a newly rebuilt church that had been burned by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

After a brief introduction touching on student debt, national security and gun control, Mrs. Clinton took questions. Ben McGill, a resident, said that his aunt and uncle, Martha Gilliard, 92, and Hogan McGill, 80, had been shot this week in Baltimore as they walked to a sandwich shop. He asked Mrs. Clinton to weigh in.

“I know we are a smart enough nation to figure out how you protect responsible gun owners’ rights and get guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them,” Mrs. Clinton replied.

She added that she would expand comprehensive background checks and close “the Charleston loophole,” a federal provision releasing guns to buyers if a background check takes longer than three days. It is a provision, she said, that Senator Bernie Sanders supported.

“When the N.R.A. says things like, ‘Well, you just need more people with guns so the good people with guns can take out the bad people with guns,’ well, you’re a 92- and an 83-year-old brother and sister and you’re walking to the grocery store,” she said. “That makes no sense.” She then transitioned to the shooting last year at a black church in Charleston that killed nine people.

“You’re at a Bible study with people at your church and a young man comes in and asks to join in and the pastor and parishioners welcome him — as we are called to do in scripture, right? Welcome that stranger, he actually listened to the Bible study. Then an hour later he took out a gun,” she said.

“We’ve got to get guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.”

Her day in the state covered hundreds of miles, ranging from rural areas to the highly populated Myrtle Beach and Charleston.

In Kingstree, Jannie Cooper, 69, a retired educator, and her friend Deloris Cooper, 55, a home health care worker, were in the crowd, each an ardent Clinton supporter.

“Hillary has been here not only for black Americans, but for children and all of us,” Jannie Cooper said. “She’s been all of her life fighting for our causes. Bernie Sanders is real good too. His heart is in the right place, but he’s not going to be able to do all the things he wants to do.”

Each of them, however, agreed that while Mrs. Clinton appears to hold a solid lead among African-Americans in South Carolina, Mr. Sanders resonates with younger voters.

A few hours later, at a Methodist church filled beyond capacity here, Mrs. Clinton was given a rousing introduction by Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and Senator Cory A. Booker of New Jersey. Mr. Gross criticized Mr. Sanders for voting against the Brady bill, for supporting 2005 legislation that shielded firerarms manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits, and for his support of ‘the Charleston loophole.

Mrs. Clinton, sounding hoarse but appearing energized, repeated much of her earlier themes, drawing “amens” from the largely black crowd.

To loud applause, she praised President Obama for the Affordable Care Act, promising to expand it, and criticized Senate Republicans for refusing to consider any Supreme Court nominee from President Obama.

“What this Senate is doing, is in my view, a grave disservice to the Constitution,” she said.

After the event, Rhodes Bailey, 35, a Columbia public defender, and his wife, Dare, 33, a lawyer, both of whom are white, said they liked what they heard.

“It’s her experience and intelligence and the ability to get it done,” Mr. Bailey said. “We were big Obama supporters. And Hillary, we just have confidence in her.”

Like the Coopers, however, they said that their support for Mrs. Clinton did not mean they disliked Mr. Sanders. “We love Bernie and we’ve kind of been shunned by some of our more liberal friends, but the breadth of Hillary’s experience on the issues is more important than sort of, the one note message that Bernie gives,” Mr. Bailey said.

“She can get things done,” added Ms. Bailey. “This is her rodeo.”

