Hillary Clinton in firing range of gun-toting Democrats

California is a Democratic bastion in the United States, but the party’s Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has some voters up in arms about her push to tighten gun control. At the LAX Firing Range in Los Angeles, the idea of further restrictions on guns is by and large shot down.

Jim Tarbin, a retired Los Angeles police department officer, said that gun owners feel “besieged” in California. “There is no question about it,” he said. John, an employee at the firing range who did not want his last name published, said: “Gun owners in California cannot express themselves — they’re always outvoted.”

California has the strictest gun control in the country, according to specialist site Smartgunlaws.Org. Rules range from compulsory background checks to limits on the capacity of firearm magazines and a ban on automatic weapons. New measures to control access to guns are expected to be approved in a referendum coinciding with the November 8 Presidential election, as public polls show two-thirds of voters want them.

Ms Clinton, vying to be the first female US President, has promised to confront the powerful gun lobby and broaden background checks to include legal as well as mental issues. According to her campaign, Ms Clinton “will also support work to keep military-style weapons off our streets”.

Her Republican rival Donald Trump touts the Second Amendment of the US Constitution in his campaign, declaring: “The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed upon. Period.” Between eight and 11 million Californians are gunowners, according to estimates, about a quarter of the population — the second-highest number after Texas. A Pew Research study found that 40 percent of gun owners across the United States are Republican, twice the number of Democrats.

But in California, the share of gun-toting Democrats is larger.