The daughter of a woman who died in the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., lashed out at Bernie Sanders on Tuesday night for his support of legislation that keeps victims of gun violence from suing weapon manufacturers.
Erica Smegielski’s mother, Dawn Hochsprung, was the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School and one of 26 people killed by the shooter there.
Smegielski tweeted:
The tweet links to the front page of Wednesday’s New York Daily News, with a headline reading: Bernie’s Sandy Hook Shame.
{mosads}Sanders has come under fire from Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton for voting in the past against bills that would give the victims of gun violence the ability to sue gun manufacturers.
Sanders has argued that his constituents in Vermont own guns for hunting and other recreational purposes and that the law could put mom-and-pop gun manufacturers out of business.
Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said the New York Daily News cover was “certainly not accurate,” and noted that Sanders has co-sponsored a bill that rolls back the gun industry protections he had once supported.
“What came up was about small stores in rural areas that support a hunting community,” Weaver said. “Certainly he does not support people, companies engaged in reckless conduct that puts guns or ammunition in the hands of people who shouldn’t have it. So he is certainly in favor of making sure that anyone who is a bad actor is punished, but anyone that is not a bad actor should not be punished.”
Weaver also said Clinton “has been all over the map on this” issue and accused her campaign of taking money from the gun lobby.