Connecticut officials fired back at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Tuesday, after the Democratic presidential candidate said crime victims should not be allowed to sue gun manufacturers when asked about a lawsuit filed by victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy (D) told the New York Daily News, which published the initial interview with Sanders, on Tuesday that Sanders was “just wrong.”
“He is dead wrong on guns,” Malloy said. “He had an opportunity to educate the people of Vermont about guns. Vermont is small enough that he could have gone house to house to educate people about guns.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) called the interview “bad” and expanded on his position in a series of tweets. (Murphy and Malloy have both endorsed Hillary Clinton.)
Bernie is a friend, but this is really bad. Dems can’t nominate a candidate who supports gun manufacturer immunity. pic.twitter.com/JEgXQhlnAA
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 5, 2016
Let’s be clear – supporting restoring liability for sellers is not the same thing as restoring liability for gun makers.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 5, 2016
For Sanders to say that the Sandy Hook families should be barred from court, even if the weapon was negligently made, is wrong.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 5, 2016
Democrats cannot nominate a candidate who believes that toy gun makers should be held to a higher legal standard than real gun makers.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 5, 2016
And if this isn’t Sanders’ position – if he supports full return of liability for sellers and makers, then he should clarify immediately.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 5, 2016
Sanders seems to be the only person in the gun mess that has thought things out. What is the basis for suing a gun manufacturer if that manufacturer didn’t encourage or condone the use of its products to kill an innocent person? If I wack you with a 2 by 4 do you have a right to sue Home Depot?
The CT guys have it wrong. Sanders agreed that dealers, not manufactures, that sell guns irresponsibly should be subject to action. But he stopped at saying the manufacturer should be sued for the misuse of his products. I think that’s a solid position. What’s the basis for blaming the folks making the weapon for its illegal use by another person thay had no contact with?
I don’t think the importance of guns should have become what it is today or that owning a gun should play such a prominent role in political identity but that’s where we are and like it or not…Liberals did very little to stop it. Frustrating…but taking it out on the wrong folks isn’t going to help. It’s going to push the issue further into the dark side.
This won’t matter to the Sandernistas.
They are no more aware, nor do they care, about REALITY than the Trump supporters (and for the same reason. They see a SAVIOR and thus give him a pass on everything he does or has done.)
Sad really.
Just think what the Bernie Bros would scream if HILLARY supported immunity for Gun Manufacturers?
I’m afraid some of the people in Bernie’s base share quite a few similar thoughts with those in the Trump base and would agree.
But, that’s not why the Sandy Hook families are suing. They are suing because they claim the manufacturer KNEW these guns should never have been for civilian use or sold to the public at all.
They aren’t claiming they were used wrong, they are claiming that the gun manufacturer knowingly sold weapons to the public that should have never been available to them in the first place.