December 2, 2015

Hillary Clinton Was Discussing Gun Control Just as the San Bernardino Shooting Happened

Here’s what she said.

Loren Elliott/ZUMA

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There was a mass shooting on Wednesday afternoon in San Bernardino, California, at Inland Regional Services, a center for people with developmental disabilities. Details are still sparse hours after the attack, with at least one suspect still at large, according to the police. Fatalities have been confirmed, though no exact figure has been released by the police so far. Check here for the latest updates.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton responded quickly to the breaking news on Twitter, pushing the need for further gun control in light of the latest in a long string of mass shootings.

Clinton happened to be speaking about the need for gun control at a campaign stop in Florida just as the attack was unfolding, per ABC News’ Liz Kreutz. In a tweet, Kreutz quoted Clinton as saying that “90 americans a day die from gun violence, homicide, suicides, tragic avoidable accidents. 33 thousand Americans a year die. It is time for us to say we are going to have comprehensive background checks, we are gonna close the gun show loopholes.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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