Hillary Clinton unveils new gun control plans to hold firearm firms liable in shootings

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton proposed tighter gun control on 5 October during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. Among Clinton's proposals are expanded background checks and holding gun firms accountable in times of mass shootings.

"I want to push hard to get more sensible restraints," Clinton said on NBC's Today show. "I want to work with Congress, but I will look at the ways as president." According to the BBC, Clinton vowed to use executive powers to expand background checks at gun shows and ban domestic abusers from purchasing weapons.

Clinton told rally attendees in New Hampshire: "I will try every way I can to get those guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them." During her emotional speech, Clinton brought out Nicole Hockley, the mother of six-year-old Dylan Hockley, who was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, CNN reported.

The former secretary of state's speech came just days after the deadly shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, which left 10 dead, including the gunman. "We need to prevent these kinds of terrible crimes that are happening," Clinton said.

The BBC noted that the issue of gun control is perhaps one of the few issues Clinton runs to the left of fellow Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. The 74-year-old senator from Vermont, who recently held a massive rally in Boston, has had a varied stance on gun control. During his 3 October rally in Massachusetts, the senator said he supports "sensible gun control legislation".

However, the pro-gun control stance could also end up hurting Clinton in more gun-friendly states, particularly in the South. According to Fox News, Clinton has used the recent campus shooting to target Republicans she says "refuse to do anything" about mass shootings.

"We need to make every politician who sides with [the NRA] to look in the eyes of parents whose kids have been murdered," Clinton said. "The GOP counts on a dedicated group that scares politicians and says: "We will vote against you' ... So we will take them on. We took them on in the '90s; we're gonna take them on again."