Hillary Clinton proposes assault rifle ban, limits on high-capacity magazines

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton proposed an assault rifle ban and limits on high capacity magazines to stop potential terrorist attacks in the United States.

“I have news for [Republicans] — terrorists use guns to kill Americans. I think we should make it harder for them from to do that,” Mrs. Clinton said in a counterterrorism speech Tuesday in Minneapolis. “I have this old fashioned idea that we elect a president to keep us safe. … I’m not going to let the gun lobby tell me that’s not right.”

Mrs. Clinton also reiterated her support for denying firearms sales to those on the no-fly list.

Mrs. Clinton’s foreign policy advisor, Laura Rosenberger tweeted: “If Republicans can’t show leadership by standing up to the @NRA, how will they stand up to the threats we face around the world?”

Mrs. Clinton’s strategy is in line with the New York Times, who published a front-page editorial this month calling for a ban on assault weapons that read in part, “Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership.”

Banning such weapons goes against public opinion, according to a New York Times/CBS poll released this month.

In 1999, 76 percent of Americans favored such a ban, whereas just 44 percent do now, the poll showed. Fifty percent of Americans oppose such a measure.