Hillary Clinton Vows to Get the NRA Shut Down for Good-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Hillary Clinton is quoted as saying “I will get the NRA shut down for good if I become president. If we can ban handguns we will do it” in an interview with the Des Moines Register in August 2015.
The Truth:
There’s no record of Hillary Clinton vowing to “get the NRA shut down for good,” and the Des Moines Register has debunked claims that it reported she made the statement.
The rumor started with a meme that went viral on an anti-Clinton Tumblr page called “Shocking Hillary Clinton Quotes.” The meme links to an interview Clinton gave to the Des Moines Register in September 2015, but Clinton’s alleged promise to “shut down” the NRA for good doesn’t appear in the transcript.
The Des Moines Register denied the rumor in a report that noted Clinton wasn’t in the state when the interview supposedly took place, and that there was no record of her making the comment:
But here’s the thing: The quote is wholly fabricated. Clinton was never quoted in the Register making that statement, and it appears she has not made such a statement anywhere else.
Clinton campaigned heavily in Iowa throughout the summer and fall of 2015, and Register reporters and the paper’s editorial board interviewed her several times. But she was not in Iowa on Aug. 8, when she allegedly made the statement. Clinton’s first visit to Iowa in the month of August occurred on Aug. 14, followed by public events on Aug. 15 and Aug. 26.
And the paper quoted Clinton extensively on the issue of gun control and gun ownership in 2015, but we couldn’t find any record of her addressing the NRA or promising to ban handguns for good.
In July 2015, Clinton addressed gun laws during the Democratic primary:
I’m going to speak out against the uncontrollable use of guns in our country because I believe we can do better than that. A majority of Americans and a majority of gun owners agree with universal background checks to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and people who are mentally unstable and even terrorists.”
In August 2015, Clinton was quoted talking about guns in the Register after a television cameraman was shot and killed on air:
In answering questions about the murder of a TV reporter and cameraman in Virginia, Clinton said she was deeply saddened, but added that their deaths need to spark action to restrict access to handguns.
“We’ve got to do something,” she said. “It’s a very difficult political issue. But we are smart enough, compassionate enough to balance legitimate Second Amendment rights concerns with preventive measures and control measures, so whatever motivated this murderer … we will not see more needless, senseless deaths.”
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gives her remarks on the Virginia shooting and gun violence following her speech highlighting her rural policy plan at DMACC in Ankeny.
“If guns weren’t so readily available, if we had universal background checks, if we could put some time out between the person who got fired, or domestic abuse, or whatever other motivation … maybe we could prevent this kind of carnage.”
In October 2015, Clinton promised “tighter but sensible” gun laws. She talked about the gun lobby, and the influence of the NRA in particular:
“I’m tired of people in public life saying, ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with families whose children are murdered at community colleges or elementary schools or people killed at Bible studies or going to the movies,’ ” the Democratic presidential candidate said. “We can’t tolerate that. This doesn’t just happen. … We let it happen.”
“We keep getting stymied because of the lobby for a very small minority of gun owners and the gun manufacturers, which stand in the way,” she said.
Clinton has spoken throughout the campaign about her intention to implement tighter gun rules, despite pressure from the National Rifle Association. This week, she released specifics of her proposals.
“I feel like this is unfinished business in our country, and I am very determined that we are going to try to bring some sanity back, so that people’s Second Amendment rights are protected — but they are not absolute, the way the NRA wants them to be. There are common-sense ways to make sure people are not using guns to commit mass murders.”
Finally, the Register quoted Clinton talking about gun violence after the San Bernardino terrorist attacks in December 2015:
When Clinton met with reporters after her campaign appearance here Friday, The Des Moines Register asked if she believed the proposed ban on gun sales to people on the no-fly list could have prevented the San Bernardino shootings or any of the other massacres.
“That’s like the question, ‘How do you prove a negative?’” she replied. “I don’t know exactly what it would have or could have prevented, but I do know that we’ve got to start implementing sensible gun-safety measures, and this seems like the most sensible that I know of. There have been numerous sales to people on the no-fly list for years now. And where those guns go, who ends up with them, we don’t have any idea.”
Clinton said the proposed rule would be similar to bans on gun sales to felons, people with restraining orders or those with serious mental illnesses. “I think we’ve got to be more willing to start imposing these kinds of gun-safety measures. I’m certainly going to continue advocating for them.”
So, we couldn’t find any record of Clinton talking promising “get the NRA shut down for good,” or to ban handguns. That’s why we’re calling this one “fiction.”