Clinton steps up criticism of Sanders on guns

Hillary Clinton stepped up her attacks on Bernie Sanders over gun control on Monday as polls suggested the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is tightening.

Clinton cast herself as on the side of President Obama when it comes to gun control, while saying Sanders has opposed legislation meant to hold gun manufacturers legally liable in civil court for deadly shootings.

{mosads}“President Obama and I were both in the Senate and we voted no—Sen. Sanders voted yes,” Clinton said, citing a 2005 vote on legislation that barred the gun industry from facing civil suits in firearms accidents or other “misuse.” 

Sanders served in the House at the time, and voted yes on the measure. It passed through Congress and became law later that year. 

The Clinton camp has upped its attacks on Sanders’s gun control record after President Obama’s town hall on gun control last week. Obama also wrote in an op-ed last week that he wouldn’t campaign for candidates in either party that didn’t support gun control reforms.

He specifically mentioned the immunity provision as a policy that needs reform.

The White House not said whether it would support Sanders for president if he wins the Democratic nomination. White House spokesman Josh Earnest last week said he anticipated that if Sanders were the nominee, the president’s staff would take action to learn more about the Sanders record and agenda on gun control, stopping short of saying they would endorse who ever wins the nomination.

The Democratic Party’s base is bullish on the need for gun control, and Clinton’s campaign has long seen Sanders as vulnerable on the issue.

The uptick in Clinton attacks on the Sanders gun record also comes as polls show him narrowing her lead in Iowa.

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll found Sanders had cut the lead to just 3 percentage points in Iowa. He also holds a slim lead in New Hampshire.  

Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told CNN’s “New Day” that Clinton has been “all over the map on guns” and that the attacks are coming because the “Clinton campaign is getting very nervous.”

And on the stump Saturday, Sanders told supporters that he stands by President Obama’s recent executive actions to increase background checks.