Democratic Senator Blasts Bernie Sanders' Stance on Guns

— -- Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders’ recent comments on lawsuits involving gun manufacturers have angered at least one of his Democratic Senate colleagues.

Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a vocal gun control advocate especially after the Newtown shooting in his home state, released a series of tweets expressing his disappointment with a view Sanders espoused during an editorial board meeting with the New York Daily News.

Asked whether he believes the families of gun violence victims should be able to sue the gun manufacturer, Sanders responded, "No, I don’t."

That led Murphy, who endorsed Sanders' rival Hillary Clinton in June 2015, to blast Sanders on Twitter yesterday.

"Bernie is a friend, but this is really bad. Dems can't nominate a candidate who supports gun manufacturer immunity," Murphy wrote. "Let's be clear - supporting restoring liability for sellers is not the same thing as restoring liability for gun makers. For Sanders to say that the Sandy Hook families should be barred from court, even if the weapon was negligently made, is wrong."

He continued: "Democrats cannot nominate a candidate who believes that toy gun makers should be held to a higher legal standard than real gun makers. And if this isn't Sanders' position - if he supports full return of liability for sellers and makers, then he should clarify immediately."

Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Sanders, responded to the criticism in a statement largely criticizing Clinton.

"The senator has a well-deserved D- rating from the NRA while Secretary Clinton takes campaign cash from NRA lobbyists," he said. "Senator Sanders may well have lost his first campaign for Congress in 1988 because he supported a ban on assault weapons. He supports President Obama's efforts to end gun violence. He voted for the legislation considered by the Senate after Sandy Hook. He has a clear and consistent record on the issue.

"Secretary Clinton, meanwhile, has shifted her espoused position on guns from campaign to campaign," he continued. "As a Senate candidate in New York, she favored strong limits on guns and gun ownership. As a presidential candidate in 2008, however, she posed as someone who was so gun friendly that then-Sen. Barack Obama compared her to Annie Oakley. It's hard to know where she stands today."