Heidi M. Przybyla

USA TODAY

Hillary Clinton's gun-control offensive against Bernie Sanders in South Carolina will provide the template she follows in upcoming state contests with sizable African-American electorates.

Two days in a row this week, Clinton campaigned with mothers who’ve lost children to gun violence, including Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin. Her campaign also cut a new web video and held a conference call highlighting Sen. Bernie Sanders’ record on guns, including his support of the so-called Charleston loophole, which allowed Dylann Roof to acquire a firearm before completing a background check.

Clinton has also been hammering the Vermont senator for his 2005 vote shielding gun makers and sellers from lawsuits stemming from injuries caused by their merchandise — he's recently co-sponsored legislation that would repeal that measure. The focus is on this 2005 vote as a way to undercut Sanders both on the gun issue and on his populist anti-corporate message since it is a rare instance of him siding with companies.

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A January CNN/ORC poll shows 68% of Democratic voters say gun policy will be very important in determining their vote, and as the race turns to states with large African-American communities that have been disproportionately impacted by gun violence, the issue is becoming a bigger focus. The former secretary of State wants to cement what polls show is a nearly 30-point lead over the Vermont senator in the Palmetto state’s Feb. 27 primary, as well as her advantage in states like Alabama and Texas that vote on March 1.

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Guns are a particularly emotional issue in South Carolina after Roof killed nine African Americans in a Charleston church in June. On Tuesday, Clinton was joined by Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who survived being shot in the head, and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

“Elections matter,” said Kelly. “Looked at the records,” he said. “There is only one candidate that has the record and the experience to stand up to a very powerful special interest.”

While it will prove challenging for Sanders to win any state with a large black population, he’s gotten some important local politician and celebrity endorsements, most recently entertainer Spike Lee. And Clinton's campaign is taking no chances after being caught off guard by an unexpectedly close race in Iowa and a New Hampshire drubbing.

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As the Democratic primary race turns South, as well as to states like Massachusetts and Colorado, Clinton sees the issue as a way to solidify her advantage over Sanders. The senator has often cited his state’s rural culture in defending his record.

“He’s saying ‘Don’t look at me, look in the other direction,’ ’’ Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy said on a Monday conference call with reporters. “Sanders was wrong on this. He should admit it now,” said Malloy.

The Clinton campaign organized the call on the same day a Connecticut judge heard a case to determine whether gun manufacturers are shielded from legal liability in a suit brought by the victims of the Newtown, Conn. school shootings in 2012. The case revolves around the 2005 law Sanders supported.

More recently, Sanders has called the measure a “complicated vote.”

In 2013, Sanders also supported a bipartisan bill in the wake of Newtown to tighten background checks for online and gun show sales. The legislation failed amid stiff Republican opposition. He also supports banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

The Clinton offensive is broader than South Carolina.

Clinton, Sanders have different challenges to land black votes in S.C.

On Monday, as Sanders prepared to speak in Amherst, Mass., Clinton backers held a news conference bashing Sanders’ gun record. Clinton also rolled out endorsements from four Coloradans who lost loved ones in mass shootings in Aurora, Columbine and Sandy Hook.

The gun debate comes as the campaign is taking a personal turn, with Sanders accusing Clinton of pandering to African Americans. His campaign has also been trying to beat back media coverage that Clinton is poised to amass an insurmountable delegate lead that will make it hard for Sanders to survive through March.

Terry Alexander, an African-American state representative supporting Sanders, said the campaign needs 35% to 40% of the black vote in South Carolina as a buffer before the competition turns to more favorable Midwestern states like Minnesota, which holds a caucus on Super Tuesday, and Michigan's March 8 primary.

“I think he stands a shot,” said Alexander.

Still, he said, Sanders doesn’t have the long-standing ties in the state that Clinton does. “I think early on they wrote off South Carolina."

Now, he said, the campaign is in a furious, last-minute effort, having knocked on 8,000 doors just this past weekend, he said.

“It’s about margin (of the vote) now,” he said. Sanders’ loss in Nevada “didn’t close the door on him,” he said.

Elections 2016 | USA TODAY Network