Clinton says she has begun collecting names of gun owners who are ‘sick and tired of the violence’ as debate showing boosts New Hampshire poll numbers

Hillary Clinton has stepped up her attack on the National Rifle Association, describing it as an “absolutist” and “scare-mongering” lobby group that intimidates politicians and hinting that she was working behind the scenes to create a new alternative organization of “responsible gun owners” to lead the fight.



Buoyed by a well-received performance at this week’s first Democratic debate, and by a new opinion poll that narrowly puts her back in front in the critical early primary state of New Hampshire, Clinton moved her campaign against the notoriously aggressive NRA into higher gear. Appearing at her 11th town hall meeting in New Hampshire since the start of her campaign, she said it was time to “take on those who are not in favor of sensible gun safety measures”.

Then she specifically name-checked the NRA, and said “a lot of people in public life today … are intimidated. That’s no longer feasible, it’s no longer right.”

The NRA, which acts as the mouthpiece of gun manufacturers and sellers, has held a virtual stranglehold over the debate on gun control in the US over the past 20 years. It exerts its influence by mobilizing activists at local level and by rating politicians according to whether they are, in the NRA’s reckoning, gun-friendly.

Speaking in front of about 1,000 people on the campus of Keene State University, Clinton issued what will undoubtedly be seen by the NRA as a provocative challenge by calling for the creation of a new body to check its power. “The fight against the NRA should be led by a new organization of gun owners,” she said.

She added that she herself had begun collecting names of people who she said were “stepping up and writing about their feelings as people who enjoy hunting and target shooting but who are sick and tired of the violence”.

Clinton has clearly identified gun control in the wake of the recent mass shooting at Umpqua community college in Oregon as a priority issue for her to raise on the campaign trail, particularly as it allows her to question the track record of her main rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders. In Tuesday’s debate, she attacked the US senator from Vermont for his ambiguous stance on gun control, saying that it was “not at all” strong enough.

The most recent opinion poll from New Hampshire, which will follow Iowa in next February’s first-in-the-nation nomination races, suggests that Clinton’s debate appearance may have clawed her back some of the ground she had lost in the state to Sanders. The Suffolk Union/Boston Globe survey, released on Friday, puts Clinton on 37% among likely Democratic primary voters, two points ahead of Sanders.

She did not mention Sanders by name in her town hall discussion, though he was clearly the elephant in the room. “Some people say I shouldn’t shout about” guns, Clinton said soon after the took to the stage – a reference to Sanders’ comment in the debate that “all the shouting in the world” would not keep guns from falling into the wrong hands.

The former US secretary of state and senator for New York said that she saw a “glimmer of hope” in this week’s court victory in Wisconsin for two injured police officers who were shot by a criminal wielding an illegally purchased pistol. The officers were awarded more than $5m in damages against the gun dealership that had sold the firearm knowing that it was a “straw purchase” – that is, it was bought by somebody on behalf of another person who was not legally permitted to obtain it.

Clinton said that the Wisconsin ruling would act as a critical test of the 2005 law passed by Congress that granted gun manufacturers and sellers with a broad immunity against prosecution. Significantly – though she did not mention this directly – Sanders was one of those who voted in favor of granting the immunity.

“We’re going to see whether that verdict stands up under this broad immunity that has been given to the gun industry,” Clinton said. “There is no other industry in America that has been given this kind of blanket permission to be reckless and negligent – it’s just outrageous and we have to repeal that.”

It may or may not be an indication of anxiety on the part of the NRA, but the country’s main pro-gun lobby is certainly keeping a very close eye on Clinton’s intensifying assault. On Friday it put out two tweets seeking to puncture the Democratic candidate’s position on gun control:

NRA (@NRA) Why Hillary Clinton’s gun claims do “not stand up to scrutiny." http://t.co/MmJ8IYW9uQ #2A #gunfacts

NRA (@NRA) Oh look - another one of Hillary Clinton's gun claims was rated FALSE http://t.co/nVRqukJF2l #2A #gunfacts

Two of the issues that have beset Clinton’s bid for the White House so far in her run – her use of a private email server while she acted as secretary of state, and her role in the Benghazi tragedy in Libya – were not raised at all in New Hampshire, suggesting that neither subject is of huge concern to Democratic primary voters here. Clinton spoke on the day that her closest aide, Huma Abedin, appeared in front of the Republican-controlled House panel investigating the 11 September 2012 attacks in which four Americans including the ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, died.

Clinton was asked about her position on Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked information about the NSA’s mass surveillance of telephone and internet data. She repeated her claim, made in this week’s televised debate, that Snowden could have released the intelligence to the public by going through official channels under whistleblower protection laws.

“Not true!” shouted a man sitting at the back of the town hall meeting.