NRA lobbyist: 'Bernie's right' about lawsuits against gunmakers

[RandySF]

A day after the National Rifle Association endorsed Donald Trump for president, the group’s chief lobbyist said “Bernie’s right” when it comes to lawsuits against gunmakers.

For months, Hillary Clinton has slammed her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders, for supporting a 2005 federal law that bars lawsuits against gun companies when their products are misused by criminals.

On Saturday, at the annual meeting of NRA members in Louisville, Kentucky, the NRA’s chief lobbyist played a clip of a response from the Vermont senator.

During a March debate in Michigan, Sanders said: “If you go to a gun store and you legally purchase a gun, and then, three days later, if you go out and start killing people, is the point of this lawsuit to hold the gun shop owner or the manufacturer of that gun liable?

“If they are selling a product to a person who buys it legally, what you’re really talking about is ending gun manufacturing in America. I don’t agree with that.”

A hall full of NRA members gave the clip a smattering of applause. To laughter, Chris Cox, head of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, said: “I don’t say this often … OK, fine, I’ve never said it. But Bernie’s right.


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/22/nra-executive-bernie-sanders-right-gun-lawsuits

[JonLeibowitz]

1. Stopped clock, and all that.

[SpareribSP]

2. Is this how we should legislate guns?

Why not just directly impose safety requirements instead of forcing people into these lawsuits? It also doesn't seem to do much to prevent mass shootings. Bernie also has said it makes sense to be able to sue gun shops/manufactures if they're doing behavior like trying to flood a certain area with guns, but a legal purchase of a gun?

I guess the idea is to limit gun ownership in a death by 1000 cuts, kind of like the Republican attack on abortion rights. You could make an argument for that, but it still seems far inferior to straightforward legislation.