During a campaign stop in Wisconsin Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton and Sandra Bland‘s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, discussed gun violence in America.
Milwaukee is no stranger to gun violence. Dontre Hamilton was shot in 2014 by a police officer who did not face charges, just months after the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. 80 miles away in Wisconsin’s capital, Madison, Tony Robinson was recently shot and killed by police in March of 2015.
It might be easy to say that Clinton is attempting to court African Americans. After all, there is a race portion we need to mention. Hamilton, Garner, Brown, and Robinson were all Black men. African Americans make up nearly half of Milwaukee’s population. Milwaukee and St. Louis have historically battled for the title of most segregated city in the United States though Chicago ‘won’ in 2015.
However, with recent mass shootings and other forms of gun violence, Clinton has become increasingly upset with the gun lobbyists, the NRA, and others. After the Umpqua Community College shooting in October of 2015, she put the following up on Facebook:
“This is not just tragic. We don’t just need to pray for people. We need to act. And we need to build a movement. It’s infuriating. Every time there’s another massacre Republicans and the NRA say, ‘now is not the time to talk about guns.’ Yes, it is. But more than talk, it is time to act.”
Her campaign has a long list of tasks to accomplish with regards to gun control should she be elected, but the biggies are comprehensive background checks, reworking how dealers operate, and keeping guns away from those who may use them in a violent matter. After calling Bernie Sanders out several times on his 2005 vote for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), giving legal immunity to gun dealers and manufacturers, Clinton pointed out in the Flint debate that those groups are a part of the corporate monster that Sanders wants to take down.
Like President Obama, Clinton seems to be emotionally invested in gun control – not just because it “needs to be a voting issue” but because it is the right thing to do.
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