Martin O’Malley’s super PAC is saying that self-described socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders isn’t liberal enough. At least, that is, on gun control.
Saying Sanders is “no progressive when it comes to guns,” O’Malley’s team slams Sanders for not always voting for gun control during the 15-second attack ad, which will mainly broadcast in Iowa.
Both O’Malley and Sanders are seeking the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
Sanders is condemned for voting for against the Brady Bill in 1993, which mandated federal background checks for those who purchase firearms. Sanders was also slammed for voting to protect gun manufacturers from victim lawsuits.
In 1990, as Sanders ran for office, the National Rifle Association invested heavily in defeating his Republican opponent Peter Smith, who came out in support on an assault weapons ban.
“I think guns and gun control is an issue that needs to be discussed,” Bernie Sanders said on Thursday’s “Morning Edition.” “Let me add to that, I think that urban America has got to respect what rural America is about, where 99 percent of the people in my state who hunt are law-abiding people.”
Debates over gun control flared up on the campaign trail in response to the June 17 Charleston massacres, during which a racist gunman entered a black church and shot nine people dead.
“Who knew we needed a debate on gun safety in a Democratic primary?” O’Malley’s team said in the description of the ad. “We need a DEMOCRATIC nominee that has a proven record on protecting us over the profits of the gun industry.”
O’Malley has used the past week to tout his firm anti-gun stance. While serving as governor of Maryland, O’Malley banned assault weapons and high capacity gun magazines in addition to implementing stricter licensing rules on gun permits.
These actions earned him an “F” rating from the NRA, about which O’Malley frequently boasts. What O’Malley doesn’t say in the ad is that Sanders also holds an “F” rating from the NRA.
“We hear a lot of talk about standing up to the powerful interests, but Martin O’Malley is the only candidate who passed winning solutions by taking on the most powerful lobby in America — the CEOs of the Gun Industry,” the O’Malley campaign says. “You can’t claim to soak the fat boys and exempt the profiteers in the gun industry. The banks and the gun industry are the twin pillars of our bankrupt political system–protecting profits and endangering the rest of us.”
Hillary Clinton’s opponents for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination may think that to get to her, they must compete with each other first.
