Clinton calls on Americans to rally after Orlando shooting as they did post-9/11

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on Americans to “stand together” after the Orlando shooting as they did in the days after the September 11th terrorist attacks, saying there was “no better rebuke to the terrorists and all those who hate.”

“The day after 9/11 Americans from all walks of life rallied together with a sense of common purpose,” Clinton said at a campaign stop in Cleveland Monday. “It is time to get back to the spirit of those days — the spirit of 9/12.”

Clinton condemned the shooting that claimed 49 people’s lives when gunman Omar Mateen opened fire at an Orlando gay nightclub early Sunday morning, calling it “a nightmare that’s become mind-numbingly familiar.”

Clinton described the shooter “a madman filled with hate and guns in his hands and just a horrible sense of vengeance and vindictiveness in his heart.” But she praised the victims and mourned their lives “viciously cut short.”

“They all had a lot more to give,” she said. “As a mother, I can’t imagine what their families are going through.”

Clinton had planned the Cleveland stop at an Ohio Democratic Party event before the shooting occurred, and used the speech to instead address national security measures she would implement as commander-in-chief. She pledged to combat radicalization at home and abroad, by working with foreign allies to halt the Islamic State’s movements and making both identifying and stopping so-called lone wolves “a top priority.”

Authorities said Mateen, 29, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State during a call to 911 he placed shortly before the attack. President Barack Obama said at the White House Monday that there was no evidence the shooter had operated as part of a “larger plot.”

In her speech, Clinton criticized Donald Trump’s proposal to surveil Muslim communities without mentioning him by name, urging people to “avoid eroding trust in that community, which will only make law enforcement’s job more difficult.” Such policies, she said, hurt “the vast majority of Muslims who love freedom and hate terror.”

But the portion of the speech that drew the most applause Monday was her renewed call to limit access to assault weapons in the United States.

“I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets,” Clinton said to a standing ovation. “We may have our disagreements about gun safety regulations ... but if the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links you shouldn’t be able to just buy a gun with no questions asked.”

“That may not stop every shooting or every terrorist attack,” she added. “But it will stop some and it will save lives and it will protect our first responders.”

Clinton also pledged to stand with LGBT people after Sunday’s attack.

“You have millions of allies who will always have your back, and I am one of them,” she said. “From Stonewall to Laramie and now Orlando, we’ve seen too many examples of how the struggle to live freely, openly and without fear has been met by violence.”

“We have to stand together, be proud together,” she said.

This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Clinton calls on Americans to rally after Orlando shooting as they did post-9/11."