Monday afternoon's speech was delivered to a closed audience of Democratic lawmakers, lobbyists and other party stalwarts in the ballroom of a hotel just down the block from the august State Capitol. Reporters listening from the nearby lobby could hear the crowd of over 100 people cheering at various points during Clinton's remarks, but the specific words were made inaudible by an Ace of Base remix playing from the hotel sound system and, eventually, a closed ballroom door.
Several other attendees confirmed to POLITICO that Clinton seemingly opened a more direct line of attack on Sanders, though she stopped just short of holding the former Burlington mayor responsible for gun violence here.
She said that many of the guns that are found to be involved in crimes in this state are found to have their origins in Vermont, said Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, a Democrat from Kingston. The implication was just that many of the guns that are involved in crimes in this state come from Vermont. That was the implication I got. She also talked about the Charleston loop hole, which she said Senator Sanders supported, which she doesn't.
Carl Heastie, the State Assembly speaker and until recently the chairman of the Bronx Democratic Committee, said, She did mention that [Vermont] doesn't have gun laws, and she brought that up when she was contrasting her position on guns and votes in Senate with Senator Sanders.
