Routine as president Obama has said, in the tragic aftermath of the UCC shooting in Oregon, the country once again must come to grips and pass sensible gun control legislation to prevent horrific events like these from happening as often as they do. This naturally degrades from actual policy discussion, to politics. Naturally every candidate has stepped forward on the issue, and in this instance we'll examine Hillary Clinton's most recent history with gun control.
As you probably already know, secretary Clinton campaigned for president once before in 2008. Naturally throughout Secretary Clinton’s campaign against then Senator Obama the topic of gun control came up. In a debate leading up to the Nevada caucus, Hillary Clinton stated her 180 on creating a national gun registry by saying “I don't want the federal government preempting states and cities like New York that have very specific problems."
Before declaring her presidential candidacy, Clinton advocated a federal firearm registry.
quote 1
Throughout the campaign she discussed her relationship with guns growing up and how guns were a part of American culture, learning how to shoot, and how hunting and shooting were a way of life in America. In a 2008 debate on the eve of the Philadelphia primary Clinton was asked about the DC handgun ban. She invoked local and state law in opposition of federal legislation “We have one set of rules in NYC and a totally different set of rules in the rest of the state. What might work in NYC is certainly not going to work in Montana. So, for the federal government to be having any kind of blanket rules that they’re going to try to impose, I think doesn’t make sense.”
To summarize her thoughts on the issue, Secretary Clinton stated "I respect the 2nd Amendment. I respect the rights of lawful gun owners to own guns, to use their guns. But I also believe that most lawful gun owners whom I have spoken with for many years across our country also want to be sure that we keep those guns out of the wrong hands. And as president, I will work to try to bridge this divide, which I think has been polarizing and, frankly, doesn’t reflect the common sense of the American people.” quote 2 & 3
To be fair, clearly none of these are votes cast by Clinton. But they are positions she advocated as a leading presidential candidate in the 2008 primary. In addition it should be noted that the 2008 presidential primaries came shortly after the Virginia Tech Massacre. Clinton overall has a long history of supporting gun control from advocating the Brady Bill as first lady. However, her advocacy in her first presidential bid would suggest she has flexibility on the issue of gun control. She advocated common-sense, non-polarized bipartisan legislation, and she accepted that hunting and target practice were part of American culture. She invoked the “state’s rights” argument on gun control and clearly stated she didn't want the federal government imposing blanket rules.