Clinton called for the reinstatement of ‘commonsense gun safety reform’ in the wake of the worst mass shooting in US history at a gay nightclub in Florida

Hillary Clinton has called for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban in the wake of the worst mass shooting in American history that left 49 people and the gunman dead at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

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In forthright comments a day after the massacre at the Pulse Club, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic party issued a call for a return to “commonsense gun safety reform” and lambasted the Republican-controlled Congress for what she called a “totally incomprehensible” refusal to address the country’s lax gun laws.

“We can’t fall into the trap set up by the gun lobby that says if you cannot stop every shooting you shouldn’t try to stop any,” she said.

Clinton’s tough stance on gun control sets up a torrid fight with her Republican rival for the White House Donald Trump, who has positioned himself as a champion of the second amendment and dismissed any calls for greater gun controls as weakness. She insisted that while she did believe that law-abiding American citizens have the right to own guns, it was also possible to see that “reasonable, commonsense measures” could be taken that would make people more safe from guns.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Investigators work at the scene of a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Rattling off all the ways that Florida allows the proliferation of guns – the state doesn’t regulate assault weapons or large-capacity magazines, doesn’t require a permit to buy a gun or oblige owners of weapons to be licensed – she said: “That’s a lot of ‘nots’. I believe strongly that commonsense gun safety reform across our country would make a difference. We know the gunman used a weapon of war to shoot down at least 50 innocent Americans.”

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The shooter, Omar Mateen, entered the Pulse Club at 2am on Sunday morning carrying an AR-15 style assault weapon and a semi-automatic handgun. He also carried large quantities of ammunition, all purchased legally using a gun permit that he had acquired as a licensed security guard despite having been interviewed by the FBI three times in 2013 and 2014 for suspected links to terrorist ideas or individuals.

The assault weapons ban was a flagship measure of Clinton’s husband’s administration, signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1994 at the peak of the crime wave that was devastating US cities. It was allowed to lapse in 2004, and since then has been a major faultline in the dispute between second amendment conservatives and gun control liberals over what to do with the ongoing carnage of mass shootings in the country.

Shortly before Clinton spoke to CNN, authorities in Orlando issued dramatic new information about the gun rampage at the Pulse Club and how it was brought to an end by a Swat team three hours after it began.

John Mina, the city’s chief of police, described how dozens of club-goers escaped through a two- or three-feet hole that had been punched into the side of the building by a Bearcat armored vehicle, after officers decided that they had to go in and end the hostage situation for fear of further loss of life.

After the survivors streamed out of the hole, which Mina said was about two feet off the ground in the wall of the club toilets, the shooter himself followed wielding his AR-15 long gun and handgun.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Orlando police chief John Mina describes the details of the fatal shootings at the Pulse nightclub. Photograph: Chris O'Meara/AP

“He engaged in a gun battle with officers where he was ultimately killed,” Mina said.

Mateen had entered the club at about 2am, and had an exchange of gunfire as he did so near the entrance with an extra-duty police officer in full uniform. But he managed to get inside the venue, where soon after police reinforcements arrived and engaged in further gunfire.

“They forced the shooter to stop shooting and retreat to the bathroom where we believed he had several hostages. At that time we were able to save and rescue dozens of people who were injured and get them out of the club.”

Mina said that based on statements made from the hostage over the course of the next three hours, police had fears that he was armed with explosives and a possible suicide bomb vest. “We cleared everything and set up for an explosive breach of the bathroom wall. We knew there were 15 people in the opposing bathroom from where the suspect was.”

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Further information, given by Mateen himself and hostages inside, led them to believe that further loss of life was “imminent”, he said. “I made the decision to commence the operation and do the explosive breach but it did not penetrate the wall completely and we used a Bearcat armored vehicle to punch a hole in the wall about two feet off the ground.”

The official death toll has now been confirmed at 49, plus the shooter, with all but one of the deceased identified. A further 53 people are still receiving medical care in hospital.

Orlando authorities said that a priority of Monday would be to complete the grim job of informing families that they have lost loved ones. So far 24 of the 49 families have been informed, and the details of most of those have been made public.

The US attorney Lee Bentley said that the criminal investigation into the shooting was ongoing. He said that other individuals other than the gunman were being considered in the investigation, though he stressed that there was no reason to believe the public was in danger.

“If anyone else was involved in this crime they will be prosecuted,” he said.