Gun control, immigration central issues at Clinton rally

Two days before Arizona's presidential primary, former President Bill Clinton urged voters to choose Hillary Clinton over Democratic rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, saying during a campaign rally at Sunnyside High School on Sunday that the former senator and secretary of state would be able to work with Congress to "get things done."

The event was the third rally held for a presidential candidate in Tucson in the last three days. On Friday, Sanders came to the Tucson Convention Center and told a crowd of 4,400 to vote in the primary, saying that voters need "a government that represents all the people, not just wealthy campaign contributors."

On Saturday, Republican candidate Donald Trump came to the same venue, and during a contentious event that was marked by multiple protests and at least two assaults, Trump promised to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and raise tariffs on traded goods.

Sunday, lines wrapped around the South Side school's parking lot, and the auditorium was packed to near capacity, holding 1,200 people while at least 200 stood in the sun outside and watched the event through the opened double doors. 

Clinton worked his way through a host of topics during his roughly 45-minute speech, but immigration and gun control were the central issues issues of the day.

After an initial introduction by Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, former U.S. Rep. Ron Barber spoke.

Barber, along with former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was one of 18 people shot during a Congress on Your Corner event in Tucson on Jan. 8, 2011. The attempted assassination killed six, including a federal judge and a 9-year Christina-Taylor Green, and left Giffords severely wounded.

Barber blamed the National Rifle Association, a powerful gun rights group, for the lack of movement on gun control.

"The NRA has had so much power in Washington D.C.," Barber said. "We saw it when the Senate failed to pass the background check bill. It's a disgrace that the Senate couldn't do that."

However, by choosing Clinton, voters were getting "someone who could stand up to the NRA" and would "fight for common sense solutions to crack down on gun violence," Barber said.

"We need to make sure that the gun manufacturers who really run the NRA have a formidable person in the White House and that person has got to be President Clinton, not her opponent," Barber said.

To the tunes of Pharrel Williams' "Happy," Giffords, her husband Mark Kelly, and President Clinton took to the stage.

Her voice still hesitant, Giffords nonetheless told a cheering crowd that she was voting for Hillary.

Giffords told the crowd that, "In the White House, she will stand up to the gun lobby, that is why I am voting for Hillary," Giffords said.

"Speaking is difficult for me, but I want to use these words: Madam President," Giffords said. "Let's work together to make Hillary our president."

Clinton said that his wife was the first Democratic candidate to have a platform focused on gun control and noted that during his administration, his wife had helped to get members of Congress to vote for the Brady Bill, a signature piece of legislation passed in 1992 that created a national registry for background checks and imposed a five-day waiting period for gun purchases.

The Brady bill had kept more than one million criminals from purchasing firearms, Clinton said, but also noted that many more would have been stopped if the law had included limits on purchases made at gun shows.

He also reiterated Barber's argument, saying that the NRA was "fueling the fear."

The NRA is trying to "scare you fellow citizens that 'oh, the Democrats are coming to get you guns,'" Clinton said.

"When Hillary talks to people, they don't feel like she's coming to get their guns," Clinton said.

Clinton also brought up Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who made a celebrity cameo at Trump's event on Saturday.

"I saw that sheriff of yours, arguing with the President on television the other night," Clinton said. Before he could continue, the crowd interrupted him, saying "Not our sheriff, not our sheriff."

"Anyway, you know what I mean," Clinton said, noting that Arpaio argued that guns were already so prevalent that no piece of gun control legislation could hope to decrease gun violence.

"That's what they told me when I was president. But, we had a 46-year low of deaths from illegal gun violence, don't tell me it wouldn't make a difference," Clinton said.

Clinton said that immigration was a "hot-button issue" in Arizona, but that his wife really believes in the need for comprehensive immigration and wants to protect "Dreamers," or children who were brought to the United States as young children and are now protected from deportation by a deferred action program. 

Clinton noted that poverty remained in the United States, especially in "Appalachia and Indian Country" but that wasn't because of immigrants, but rather because of other economic forces. 

"For somebody who stands up and says they're going to send home 11 million people, it's not only wrong, it will crater the American economy," Clinton said. 

"Youth and diversity is an advantage," Clinton said. "We need to stop demonizing people."