Hours After Oregon College Shooting, Hillary Clinton Gave an Interview — Watch Her Response

Hours after the deadly shooting at a community college in Oregon, Hillary Clinton said she felt an "absolute urgency" to push for gun control.

The Democratic frontrunner's remarks came in an interview with Janet Wu, a journalist with Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV.

"I have to tell you, Janet, I am just sick of this," Clinton said. "I'm sick about it, and I feel an absolute urgency for this country to start being sensible about keeping guns away from people who should not have them."

"I'm going to be pushing this issue. Universal background checks, a long enough waiting period so that people can't sneak in under the deadline because the full investigation wasn't completed. I would like us to be absolutely determined, as I am, to try to do something about this," the former secretary of state added.

Wu asked Clinton why she thought she would be able to "win this battle" with the National Rifle Association.

"Well, my husband beat them, and he got an assault weapons ban which lasted for ten years and did have a positive effect," Clinton replied. "I think that what we need is a national movement. When gun control issues are put on national or put on state or local ballots for referendum, they pass in many instances. So we're going to go at this from the top down, namely go back to the Congress, go back to try and put together a sensible, bipartisan position that was supported before in the Senate to get to universal background checks."

Clinton then blasted the NRA.

"But we're also going to go from the bottom up," she said. "I'm going to make this a voting issue, because what the NRA does in their single-minded, absolutist theology about the Second Amendment being sacrosanct, when we know that every constitutional right and amendment can be tailored in an appropriate way without breaching the Constitution, but what they do is to so intimidate and scare legislators because they make it into a single issue for voting."

Clinton added, "I'm going to try to do everything I can as president to raise up an equally large and vocal group that is going to prove to be a counterbalance. And we're going to tell legislators, do not be afraid. Stand up to these people because a majority of the population and a majority of gun owners agree that there should be universal background checks. And the NRA has stood in the way."

Clinton's comments echo those of President Barack Obama. In a statement delivered from the White House, Obama called for the implementation of stricter gun control measures, saying that "thoughts and prayers" for the families "are not enough."

The shooter killed nine people and wounded seven before dying in a gun battle with authorities Thursday morning.

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