Clinton slams Benghazi committee in TV interview, ad

“What worries her most is, my information shows, she knows from her internal polling that most Americans – unlike their attempt to portray this as a phony Republican scandal – believe this is a legitimate issue”, Attkisson said.

Since August, Clinton has aired several television ads across the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

HILLARY CLINTON: How many people have to die before we actually act? Clinton said it was “reprehensible” that Congress failed to act after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut where 27 people were killed, including 10 children, in 2012. She expressed both sadness and anger, as she accused her Republican opponents of “surrender” to a hard political problem. During his 3 October rally in Massachusetts, the senator said he supports “sensible gun control legislation”.

If pro-gun lobbies and politicians tried to block these new measures, Mrs Clinton said that as president she would take executive action to force them through Congress.

Another Democratic candidate, former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, has already proposed a far-reaching gun control plan that includes a call to fingerprint and license anyone who purchases a gun.

“This is a classic Clinton attempt to distract from her record of putting classified information at risk and jeopardizing our national security, all of which the FBI is investigating”, Emily Schillinger said.

Clinton has not minced words in recent days, saying she wants to build a “national movement” to counter the influence of the National Rifle Association, the nation’s top gun-rights advocacy group. Similarly, sales of used guns between private parties living in the same state are not required, under federal law, to go through the background check system regardless of where the sale occurs. Under the rule, people who try to sell a “significant number of guns” would be deemed to be “in the business” of selling firearms.

Hillary Clinton’s pledge to take on gun manufacturers and unilaterally tighten background check laws sets up a contrast with Bernie Sanders on one of the few issues where she has a more liberal record.

While Clinton’s Republican rivals have condemned the Oregon attack, most were also quick to declare their opposition to stricter gun laws to address mass shootings. Sanders has voted to allow guns on Amtrak and opposed the Brady Bill.

Insisting “our country is better than this”, an emotional Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Monday Americans must get serious about gun control and be willing to take on the entrenched politics surrounding guns.

“We need sensible gun-control legislation, and we need to significantly improve mental health services”, Sanders said on MSNBC. The Democratic presidential front-runner told NBC’s “Today” show that if she were president, she would have “done everything” in her power to shut down such a partisan investigation. “I think she’s speaking to Democrats“.