Hillary Clinton scotching attack on National Rifle Association (N.R.A.), Gets a Quick Reponse

Hillary Clinton scotching attack on National Rifle Association (N.R.A.), Gets a Quick Reponse

Hillary Rodham Clinton has promised to take on the National Rifle Association in aggressively pressing for gun control measures that have eluded the Obama administration. On Friday, the powerful lobbying group gave her a fight.

It accused Mrs. Clinton of supporting “gun confiscation,” after she expressed interest in a gun buyback program that led to the elimination of the majority of Australia’s firearms.

At a town hall-style event Friday in Keene, N.H., Mrs. Clinton was asked if she would consider the voluntary program, set up after a mass shooting, under which the Australian government bought back roughly 650,000 guns and then imposed stricter standards for gun purchases.

“I think it would be worth considering doing it on the national level if that could be arranged,” Mrs. Clinton said. She compared the buyback, versions of which some communities in the United States already have adopted, to President Obama’s Car Allowance Rebate System (better known as “cash for clunkers”), which offered incentives for people to buy new cars and get energy-inefficient vehicles off the road.

“I do not know enough details to tell you how we would do it, or how it would work,” Mrs. Clinton said. “But certainly your example is worth looking at.”

In a statement, Chris Cox, the N.R.A.’s chief lobbyist, said that Mrs. Clinton’s comments validated the fears of gun owners and that her “extreme views are completely out of touch with the American people.”

“The real goal of gun control supporters is gun confiscation,” Mr. Cox said. “Hillary Clinton, echoing President Obama’s recent remarks on the same issue, made that very clear.”

The N.R.A.’s response could benefit Mrs. Clinton as she seeks to emphasize her stance on gun control and highlight her differences on the issue with Senator Bernie Sanders, who voted against several gun control measures in Congress.

At a campaign rally in San Antonio on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton, without mentioning Mr. Sanders by name, alluded to his comments during Tuesday night’s Democratic debate that “all the shouting in the world” would not keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them “and end this horrible violence.”

“I’ve been told by some, quit talking about this, to quit shouting about this,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I will tell you right now, I will not be silenced and we will not be silenced — we must continue to speak out.”

On Friday, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign released an online video that opens with footage of Mr. Obama’s news conference after the mass shooting at a community college in Oregon earlier this month. “This is something we should politicize,” Mr. Obama said.

The 60-second video then cuts to Mrs. Clinton. “I will not be silenced,” she says. “I will keep taking on the N.R.A.”

Mrs. Clinton’s gun control proposals, presented in detail days after the shooting in Oregon, included the use of executive action to close the so-called gun show loophole, should Congress fail to approve the measure.

In an interview with CNN on Friday, Mrs. Clinton was asked about her newly assertive position, given that she had played up her gun rights credentials during her 2008 campaign.

Courtesy : Amy Chozick , New York Times 

Mr. Obama Commented that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account never posed a national security problem

Mr. Obama Commented that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account never posed a national security problem.

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Mr. Obama said Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes “I don’t think it posed a national security problem,”.” He said it had been a mistake for Mrs. Clinton to use a private email account when she was secretary of state, but his conclusion was unmistakable: “This is not a situation in which America’s national security was endangered.”

Federal agents were still cataloging the classified information from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal email server last week when President Obama went on television and played down the matter.

Mr. Obama’s statements angered F.B.I. agents who have been working for months to determine whether Mrs. Clinton’s email setup did in fact put any of the nation’s secrets at risk, according to current and former law enforcement officials.

Investigators have not reached any conclusions about whether the information on the server was compromised or whether to recommend charges, according to the law enforcement officials. But to investigators, it sounded as if Mr. Obama had already decided the answers to their questions and cleared anyone involved of wrongdoing.

The White House quickly backed off the president’s remarks and said he had not been trying to influence the investigation.

The White House said Thursday that Mr. Obama had not been commenting on the merits of the investigation, but rather had been explaining why he believes the controversy over Mrs. Clinton’s emails has been overblown. The president, officials said, was merely noting that the emails that have been publicly released so far have not imperiled national security.

Courtesy: Peter Baker and Julie Hirschfeld Davis of New York Times