FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 22 (UPI) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticized Donald Trump‘s stance on guns Saturday, one day after he was endorsed by the National Rifle Association.
During a speech Saturday to the Circle of Mothers conference organized by the Trayvon Martin Foundation, Clinton blasted the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s position on firearms. On Friday, Trump spoke to 4,000 people at the NRA convention in Louisville, Ky., where he received its endorsement.
Clinton said Trump was pandering to the gun lobby and promoting hatred.
“If you want to imagine what Trump’s America will look like, picture more kids at risk of violence and bigotry,” Clinton said. “Ask any of the mothers here tonight if they want to live in that kind of America.”
Clinton was introduced to a crowd of about 200 people.
“This lady that I’m introducing has a vision, has a simple vision, because what other woman do you know who can go from being a first lady to being the president of the United States?” said Sybrina Fulton, the mother of the 17-year-old Floridian killed in 2012 by former neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman. “Do you realize who we have sitting in this room?”
Clinton aimed her comments at Trump.
“Unlike Donald Trump, I will not pander to the gun lobby, and we will not be silenced and we will not be intimidated,” Clinton said. “As long as children anywhere are being killed by gun violence, we will keep fighting for our kids, because they deserve a president who stands up for them and stands with the mothers here. Their lives are valuable.”
Clinton said Trump’s vision “isn’t just way out there, it’s dangerous,” and noted that while Trump wants to allow guns in schools, she believes “parents, teachers and schools should have the right to keep guns out of classrooms, just like Donald Trump does at many of his hotels, by the way.”
Saturday night, Trump tweeted his response to her speech.
“Crooked Hillary said that I want guns brought into the school classroom. Wrong!” he tweeted.
And on Fox and Friends, he explained his position, “I don’t want to have guns in classrooms, but sometimes teachers should have guns. “I am not advocating guns in classrooms … trained teachers should have guns.”
During his speech Friday, Trump said Clinton was “heartless” for backing gun-ownership restrictions.
At the NRA’s annual convention, he said Clinton is “the most anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment candidate ever to run for office.”
Clinton spoke to a dramatically different crowd Saturday.
Many women in the audience were mothers of children who had died from gun violence.
“It takes a special kind of person to endure a loss like all of you and find a way to turn it into service,” Clinton said.
Martin’s killer, Zimmerman, said he was acting in self-defense and was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Zimmerman auctioned the gunused to kill Martin this month.
