Clinton Wants to Reinstate Ban on Semi-Automatic Rifles: ‘We’ve Got to Get Back to Commonsense Safety Reform’

Hillary Clinton on Monday called for the reinstatement of the 1994 assault weapons ban, which included semi-automatic guns like the one used in the Orlando attack.

Clinton was responding to a question from CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who asked which law, if enacted, would have prevented the attack that killed 49 people and injured 53 others at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Clinton went on to list a number of things in Florida's gun laws that she says need to be addressed.

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"Florida doesn't regulate assault weapons. ... It doesn't require a permit to purchase a gun, it doesn't require any registration whatsoever. It doesn't require gun owners to be licensed, and it doesn't require a permit to carry a shotgun or a rifle. ... It doesn't even require a background check prior to the transfer of a firearm between non-federally licensed parties," Clinton said.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee then renewed her call for a federal assault weapons ban, which her husband, President Bill Clinton, signed into law in 1994, and which President George W. Bush allowed to expire in 2004.

“I think we’ve got to get back to commonsense safety reform," Clinton said. "We can’t fall into the trap that was set up by the gun lobby that says if you can’t stop every shooting and every incident, you should not try to stop any. We did have an assault weapons ban for 10 years, and I think it should be reinstated."

Cuomo then pressed Clinton on whether she believes Americans have a constitutional right to own guns, to which she responded that she does but with certain restrictions.

“I believe law-abiding responsible Americans have the right to bear guns, but I also believe with the vast majority of Americans that there are commonsense, constitutionally permissible steps that we can take to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists while respecting the Second Amendment, ” Clinton said.

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