Clinton on guns: How many must die before we act?

By Kyle Roerink

Thursday, June 18, 2015 | 3:12 p.m.

In the wake of nine shooting deaths at a historic black church in South Carolina, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said the country needs to face the “hard truths” about race and gun violence.

Clinton, who visited a school in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday, asked, “How many innocent people do we need to see cut down before we act?”

Clinton’s comments came less than 24 hours after police allege Dylann Roof, 21, entered the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston and opened fire, killing nine people. He reportedly said he was “there to shoot black people,” according to CNN.

Clinton, speaking today in Las Vegas at a conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, did not suggest specific policy changes.

“So as we mourn and as our hearts break a little more, and as we send this message of solidarity that we will not forsake those who have been victimized by gun violence, this time we have to find answers together,” she said.

Some members of Congress and President Barack Obama have pushed for tougher background checks and restrictions on the capacity of ammunition magazines. Those efforts failed to pass, leaving the president to outline 25 executive actions to tighten some laws.

Some of those efforts required more information about mental illness in the federal gun background check system, new efforts to research the causes of gun violence, incentives for schools to hire more security officers and new requirements for federal authorities to trace guns used in crimes.