--- title: Hillary Clinton Slams 'Way Out of Balance' Gun Culture description: The potential 2016 presidential candidate, whose father taught her how to shoot as a kid and who has long advocated against gun violence, criticized the way U.S. gun culture has become centered on the idea that "anybody can have a gun anywhere, anytime" canonical: https://time.com/89840/hillary-clinton-gun-culture/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-06T20:05:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:41:17.537Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton slams U.S. gun culture og:description: The potential 2016 presidential candidate, whose father taught her how to shoot as a kid and who has long advocated against gun violence, criticized the way U.S. gun culture has become centered on the idea that "anybody can have a gun anywhere, anytime" og:url: https://time.com/89840/hillary-clinton-gun-culture/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebd3d20e0e577451/69868e2635ba6f27c9c01dc7/453979631.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton Awarded The 2013 Lantos Human Rights Prize og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton slams U.S. gun culture twitter:description: The potential 2016 presidential candidate, whose father taught her how to shoot as a kid and who has long advocated against gun violence, criticized the way U.S. gun culture has become centered on the idea that "anybody can have a gun anywhere, anytime" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebd3d20e0e577451/69868e2635ba6f27c9c01dc7/453979631.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Blasts 'Way Out of Balance' Gun Culture by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler May 6, 2014 8:05 PM UTC  Hillary Clinton Hillary ClintonWin McNamee—Getty Images by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler May 6, 2014 8:05 PM UTC Potential 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that gun culture in the U.S. has become “way out of balance.” “I think that we’ve got to rein in what has become an almost article of faith that anybody can have a gun anywhere, anytime,” Clinton said at the National Council for Behavioral Health conference in Maryland. “And I don’t believe that is in the best interest of the vast majority of people. And I think you can say that and still support the right of people to own guns.” Clinton added that she believes in the right to bear arms—her [father taught her](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/hillary-clinton-bag-votes-duck-tale-article-1.307763) how to shoot as a child— but the former Secretary of State cited recent examples of deadly shooting over [teens playing loud music](http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/16/justice/florida-loud-music-trial/) and [fathers texting the babysitter in movie theaters](http://abcnews.go.com/US/texting-triggers-movie-theater-shooting-retired-police-captain/story?id=21517988) in making her case, saying that “at the rate we’re going, we’re going to have so many people with guns everywhere, fully licensed, fully validated.” Clinton has a long history of [advocating for gun control](http://www.ontheissues.org/Gun%5FControl.htm). During her 2000 Senate bid, she [said](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/02/gun-control-adv/) one of the reasons she was running was because “we need a comprehensive plan to stop gun violence.” Come the 2008 election against Obama, however, she [portrayed herself](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9594.html) to the right of the now-President on gun control issues—a stance which some gun control advocates [found hypocritical](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/02/gun-control-adv/). \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/hillary-clinton-gun-culture-way-out-balance)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/89840/hillary-clinton-gun-culture/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/89840/hillary-clinton-gun-culture/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Blasts 'Way Out of Balance' Gun Culture","datePublished":"2014-05-06T20:05:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:41:17.537Z","description":"The potential 2016 presidential candidate, whose father taught her how to shoot as a kid and who has long advocated against gun violence, criticized the way U.S. gun culture has become centered on the idea that \"anybody can have a gun anywhere, anytime\"","url":"https://time.com/89840/hillary-clinton-gun-culture/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic","Gun Control","justice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebd3d20e0e577451/69868e2635ba6f27c9c01dc7/453979631.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebd3d20e0e577451/69868e2635ba6f27c9c01dc7/453979631.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton Awarded The 2013 Lantos Human Rights Prize","caption":"Hillary Clinton Awarded The 2013 Lantos Human Rights Prize","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/89840/hillary-clinton-gun-culture/","name":"Hillary Clinton Blasts 'Way Out of Balance' Gun Culture"}}]}] ```