Hillary Clinton said she did not believe guns made Americans safer during Saturday's Democratic debate, arguing that "arming more people" was not an appropriate response to terrorism and referring to guns as a "problem."
"Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer," she said. "We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence. Arming more people, to do what, I think, is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is is creating much deeper, closer relations and yes, coalitions, within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in the Muslim-American community, people who we should be welcoming and working with.
"I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a clash of civilizations, that there is some kind of Western plot or even war against Islam, which then, I believe, fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States."
Full exchange:
MARTHA RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong?
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home, and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. When Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on ISIS. I know how hard that is. I know that it isn't something you just hope people will do, and I've worked on that.
RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control? Are they wrong?
CLINTON: I'm getting to that because, I think if you only think about the coalition abroad, you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence. Arming more people, to do what, I think, is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is is creating much deeper, closer relations and yes, coalitions, within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in the Muslim-American community, people who we should be welcoming and working with. I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a clash of civilizations, that there is some kind of Western plot or even war against Islam, which then, I believe, fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States.