Generation Forward, the super PAC established to support former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s bid for the Democratic nomination for president, is attacking Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for his support of gun rights. This comes just as Sanders, who declared his candidacy in late May, appears to be gaining ground against the still-prohibitive frontrunner, Hillary Clinton.
Sanders, a self-described socialist, represents a rural state whose laws have long been very supportive of gun ownership. With Democratic politicians looking for a legislative outlet for the outrage over last week’s racist, terrorist murders of nine people at a black church in Charleston, it’s only natural that gun control is making an early appearance in the party’s presidential primaries.
Beyond simply appealing to left-leaning voters who dislike gun ownership, the ad makes a pitch to a small but rich and influential Democratic donor constituency — trial lawyers.
Among Sanders’ votes mentioned here is one that protected gunmakers from a concerted get-rich-quick scheme to bring lawsuits against them for negligence whenever people misused their properly-functioning products to commit shootings. “Bernie Sanders voted to give gun manufacturers protection from victim lawsuits,” the ad says.
Perhaps what’s most interesting about the ad is not the issue itself, but the early, intense jockeying to claim the “un-Hillary” mantle in the Democratic primary. The recent, favorable Wall Street Journal poll notwithstanding, Clinton’s status as a presumably strong general election candidate has come very much into question recently. The others lack the power to take her down, perhaps, but the vultures are circling and competing for next-in-line status.
