The issue of guns has been extremely contentious in this election, especially in the Democratic Party. As many die on the streets of cities like Chicago and Baltimore due to gun violence, and the number of mass shootings seems to rise every year, many in the party are speaking up about the vital necessity of gun control reform. According to CBS News, Hillary Clinton held a meeting in Chicago where she spoke with the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and others to discuss loss and the necessity mitigating gun violence.
Grateful to spend time today with mothers who have lost a child to violence and turned their grief into a national call to action. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 3, 2015
The meeting was posed as an opportunity to discuss the terribly tragedy of gun violence, the subject of loss, gun safety reform, and a restoration of ties between law enforcement and the communities in their jurisdiction. The meeting was politically salient for Clinton, who recently vowed to make gun safety a central electoral issue, as TIME reports.
Clinton met with many of the families of victims of gun violence and police brutality, including Sabrina Fulton, (Trayvon Martin's mother) Samaria Rice, (Tamir Rice's mother) Lesley McSpadden,( Michael Brown's mother) Maria Hamilton, (Dontre Hamilton's mother) and Joy McCormack, mother of Francisco "Frankie" Valencia.
Clinton is, of course, an advocate of gun safety reform, but also believes it is a duty of Americans to personally reflect on incidents such as mass shootings and decide for themselves what they feel is the moral position regarding this contentious issue.
On Saturday, Clinton said, regarding gun violence, "One of the challenges that we need to confront is how we look at each other with respect, and how we build a country that truly does hold out the promise of the American dream to everybody."
