Hillary Clinton said that society needs to have "positive gangs" during a discussion on gun violence Thursday in Connecticut.
"You said something that is so important for people to hear. You know, joining a gang is like having a family. It's feeling like you're part of something bigger than yourself. So we're either going to have gangs that murder and rob and do the things that are so destructive to the gang members and to the community," she said. "Or, we're going to have positive gangs. We're going to have positive alternatives for young people."
The discussion that Clinton took part in was to push her gun law agenda further to potential voters. Before she spoke of "positive gangs," a man shared his story with the audience.
His past was riddled with gang violence, prison sentences, and drugs. He joined his gang because he wanted to feel like he was a part of a family. He also noted that 400 young people in Connecticut have lost their lives to gun and gang violence this year.
Clinton wanted to highlight the most important part of this speech, which was that people join gangs in order to feel like they are a part of a family that they did not have other places to go.
Clinton spoke the day before at a gun violence discussion in Philadelphia, where she said that American has "just too many guns." She has increasingly sought to hit Democratic primary opponent Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) from the left on gun control. One of her supporters even accused Sanders of being a "wholly owned subsidiary" of the pro-gun rights National Rifle Association, despite his consistent support for gun control laws as a legislator.
Clinton defeated Sanders easily in Tuesday's New York primary, cementing her as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.