Democrat Debate: Hillary Clinton Says Armed Americans Do Not Make the Country Safer

During the December 19 Democrat debate, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said urging more Americans to carry guns in hetwake of San Bernardino will not make the country safer.

Clinton’s statements came in response to the question, “Are Americans wrong to want more guns after the San Bernardino attack?”

Clinton said, “Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 a people a year to gun violence, arming more people–to do what?–I think it’s not the appropriate response to terrorism.”

Two important points: First, Breitbart News previously reported that Clinton has a habit of inflating the number of people lost “to gun violence” by approximately 66 percent. She does this by casually adding suicides and accidental gun deaths to homicides, without explaining that approximately two-thirds of annual firearm-related deaths are suicides and a much smaller number–approximately 500–are tied to accidents. So for 2013, when there were 11,208 firearm-related homicides, Clinton adds the 500 accidental gun deaths for the year and 21,175 suicides, then rounds up the total to quote a “gun violence” death toll of 33,000.

The second point to note is that Clinton’s position against more armed Americans runs counter to American public opinion. In the wake of San Bernardino, Americans have expressed their pro-gun stance through various polls. Rasmussen reported that 63 percent of Americans with a gun in the home feel safer for having the weapon, and 61 percent of Americans said that NRA policies–markedly pro-gun and pro-concealed carry–make Americans safer. Moreover, Americans have voted with their feet since the San Bernardino attacks, emptying gun store shelves all over the country to acquire the weapons they need for self-defense.

In addition to this, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other sheriffs around the country are urging citizens to carry guns daily as a way to fight terrorism.

Clinton believes this is the wrong approach. She does not believe more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens will translate into safety.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.