TROY — U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand started her town hall meeting on Sunday afternoon with a remembrance and a reprimand.

Speaking at the McDonough Sports Complex at Hudson Valley Community College, she thanked her colleague, the late Sen. John McCain, for his service to the country as a veteran and as an "extraordinary leader who did the right thing."

She then turned to the subject of Sunday's shooting at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., at which three people were killed, including the gunman.

"This is such a scourge of our society and Congress has done nothing," she said. "It's unconscionable that Congress can't pass one legislation, not universal background checks, a ban on bump stocks, nothing. It's outrageous and people need to speak out against this in November and to fight back against the people who do nothing in the face of this violence."

The event, during which she answered random questions from the friendly crowd of about 500 for about 70 minutes, doubled as one of her promised town halls and a campaign rally. While the name of her Senate seat opponent, Republican Chele Farley, never came up, she urged the crowd to vote in November to win back Congress for the Democrats to successfully fight what is going on in the White House.

"President (Donald Trump) is undermining the institutions of the country ... free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and undermining equality by denigrating different groups of people," she said. "Diversity is our greatest strength."

She said her two main objectives are to usher in Medicare for all because "health care is a right not a privilege" and to get money out of politics.

"Corporations have outsized influence and communicate in ways that a regular citizen cannot," Gillibrand said. "They are changing ... people's perceptions and outcomes of elections."

No one at the event challenged Gillibrand's stances. But two questioned if they could rely on her to vote for impeachment of the President. Gillibrand said she would not know until the Robert Mueller probe into Russian influence in the elections was complete.

"I'm very concerned with this President," Gillibrand said. "But I have to see the evidence before I vote for impeachment."

She also answered questions on Space Force, Puerto Rico, guns in schools and paid family leave. Constituents also wanted to know how she planned to bolster the Environmental Protection Agency and block Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Gillibrand said often she is stymied by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She said she has sponsored many bi-partisan bills that are ready to go, but McConnell won't let the Senate bring them to a vote.

"I work with individual Republican senators, no matter how conservative they are," she said. "We find common ground and shared values. The problem is we can't vote on anything. He's not allowing good things to happen."

Gillibrand ended by again asking everyone to vote because "democracy only works when people fight for what they believe in. Do what you can, don't be shy. We have to overturn the House (of Representatives) and the Senate."