Hillary Clinton Attacks Bernie Sanders’ Gun Stance As Battle Lines Are Drawn For New York

Bernie Sanders’ stance on guns continues to mystify those who otherwise agree with him. The focus on this seeming inconsistency has increased, but Sanders’ gun control record has remained consistent. Following the Aurora theater shootings, Sanders voted to protect ammunition manufacturers, which he explained as supporting his own constituents. As Sanders put it, Vermont residents use guns for hunting, whereas in areas like Los Angeles or Chicago, “They’re used for kids in gangs killing other kids or people shooting at police officers, shooting down innocent people.” Sanders does support shutting down the gun show loophole, and he doesn’t want military-grade assault weapons floating around out there.

Sanders regularly reinforces his view and did so during the recent Flint debate, where he described feeling heartbroken when learning of the Newtown shootings at Sandy Hook elementary school. Still, Bern thinks the answer is not to stop gun manufacturing in America. He doubled down a few days ago in an interview with the New York Daily News‘ editorial board. Sanders discussed the Newtown tragedy and expressed his view that the families’ victims shouldn’t sue gun makers:

“If you’re a gun dealer and you sell me a gun and I go out and I kill him [gestures to someone in room] … Do I think that that gun dealer should be sued for selling me a legal product that he misused? [Shakes head no.] But I do believe that gun manufacturers and gun dealers should be able to be sued when they should know that guns are going into the hands of wrong people. So if somebody walks in and says, ‘I’d like 10,000 rounds of ammunition,’ you know, well, you might be suspicious about that. So I think there are grounds for those suits, but not if you sell me a legal product.”

Sanders pointed towards his own D- voting record with the NRA, and he’s never accepted money from the organization. However, the NRA already seized upon Sanders’ Flint comments, which of course, started a firestorm.

Likewise, Sanders’ NYDN comments met disapproval from Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who thinks that the Vermont senator is calling for absolute immunity against dealers and manufacturers. Things got even more real on Wednesday with Hillary Clinton, who’s upping her attack game after losing Wisconsin. Clinton tweeted this clip from Morning Joe, where she too expressed distaste for Sanders’ words:

“I think what you saw in the New York Daily News raises questions for voters and the front page of The News, which is one of my biggest contrasts with Sen. Sanders, that he would place gun manufacturers’ rights and immunity from liability against the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook is just unimaginable to me.”

Sanders fired back by getting dirty at his Philadelphia rally. In response to suggestions that he should apologize to Sandy Hook victims’ families, he thinks Clinton needs to say sorry to Iraq War victims.

Sanders wasn’t finished. He invoked the Panama Papers scandal after already pointing out how Clinton supported the trade agreement that probably contributed to the mess.

But Clinton wasn’t letting go of the Sandy Hook issue, especially after Sanders called her out for having campaign funds tied to the gun lobby.

This is an all-out war, folks. Sanders also devoted part of the Philly rally to list all the reasons he feels Clinton isn’t qualified to be president.

https://youtu.be/vht0NWT9qOQ