Gun control groups cheer Clinton’s plan

Gun control advocates are rallying around Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, after she unveiled a plan to reduce gun violence around the country.

As president, Clinton suggested Monday she would considering take executive action to expand background checks and allow victims of gun violence to sue weapons manufacturers.

Clinton’s gun control measures make her one of a growing number of presidential candidates to make the controversial issue part of her campaign.

Gun control advocate say this shows the political tide is shifting on the issue.

“For the first time, presidential candidates are putting forth their agendas for addressing gun violence, which was not the case in the past,” said Everytown for Gun Safety spokeswoman Erika Soto Lamb.

Though they may have discussed it briefly, neither President Obama nor his Republican challenger Mitt Romney went to great lengths to raise the issue on the campaign trail in 2012, advocates say.

President Obama’s gun reform push came months after he was reelected, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn.

But guns have become more prominent during the 2016 campaigns.

Clinton announced Monday plans to close a loophole that allows criminals to buy firearms at gun shows without going through a background check. This addresses a prominent issue for most gun-control groups. 

Americans for Responsible Solutions, the gun-control group run by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), urged Clinton to pursue these measures through executive action if Congress fails to act.

One of Clinton’s Democratic challengers, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, has also previously called for similar gun control measures on the campaign trail. 

Gun control advocates say they are proud to see Clinton make guns a “cornerstone of her campaign.”

“This is the type of bold leadership that we’ve been missing in Washington,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.