Clinton vs Sanders on guns

Sanders turns up attacks on Clinton at feisty debate, Dem front-runner fights back

Fresh off a series of weekend victories in state caucuses, Bernie Sanders turned up the heat on Hillary Clinton at Sunday’s debate in Flint, Mich., sharply challenging her economic credentials and suggesting her gun control stand would ban guns in America. 

But the Democratic front-runner fought back, blasting him for voting against the auto bailout, dismissing him as a “one-issue candidate” and hitting him once again for his stance on guns.

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On gun control, the two candidates sparred sharply, with Clinton using the Sandy Hook massacre to make a point about holding gun makers responsible for crimes – and Sanders arguing that position would effectively mean an America without guns.

The dispute started when Sanders defended his past support for a bill to help protect gun manufacturers and sellers from lawsuits. 

He said if gun sellers and makers are held liable in many of these cases, “What you’re really talking about is ending gun manufacturing in America.”

Clinton countered that no other industry in America has “absolute immunity,” and invoked the Sandy Hook mass shooting.

Sanders, Clinton Differ Sharply at Flint Debate

When asked by a Michigan voter whose daughter was shot in Kalamazoo about ways to curb gun violence, Clinton argued for legislation to hold gun manufacturers responsible, noting that Sanders opposes it. 

"I voted against giving them immunity, but I think we should very seriously move to repeal that and go back to making sure gun makers and sellers are like any other business," she said.

Sanders disagreed: "If you go to a gun store and you legally purchase a gun, and then, three days later, if you go out and start killing people, is the point of this lawsuit to hold the gun shop owner or the manufacturer of that gun liable? If they are selling a product to a person who buys it legally, what you're really talking about is ending gun manufacturing in America. I don't agree with that."

OK, on this issue I think Bernie is firmly to the right of Hillary, and I am with him.