WASHINGTON (AP) – Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign jumped at a chance Friday to portray rival Sen. Bernie Sanders as being at odds with President Barack Obama on gun control after the president denounced legislation protecting gun-makers from lawsuits.
“Standing up to the gun lobby is a real difference between Sen. Sanders and Hillary Clinton,” Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said. “It’s time for Sen. Sanders to join President Obama and Hillary in being willing to take this issue on.”
Sanders aides said there was “zero daylight” between Obama and Sanders and have argued that he was re-evaluating his position on the gun manufacturer liability law he voted for in 2005.
Clinton has spent months going after Sanders’ record on gun control. A fresh opening came with the op-ed penned by Obama in Friday’s New York Times in which he referred to the “virtual immunity from lawsuits” that he said gun manufacturers enjoy.
“I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform,” Obama wrote.