Sanders: Vermont Gun Shops Should Not Be Held Liable, But Gun Manufacturers Should Be [VIDEO]

Bernie Sanders said a small gun shop in Vermont should not be held liable if they sell a gun to an eventual criminal but if a gun manufacturer knows they are selling guns to criminals, “absolutely” the manufacturer should be liable.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Sanders defended his position on guns from Hillary Clinton’s attacks claiming that he voted for a “complicated piece of legislation.”

Clinton claimed, “When it really mattered, Senator Sanders voted with the gun lobbies and I voted against the gun lobby. So this is a significant difference and it’s important that, you know, maybe it’s time for Senator Sanders to stand up and say I got this one wrong. But he hasn’t.”

In response, Sanders claimed, “Well, what you had was a complicated piece of legislation. There were aspects of it that were absolutely right. There were aspects of it that were wrong.”

Sanders argued, “I will vote to revise that bill. There are parts of it that made sense to me. Look George, if you have a small gun shop owner in Northern Vermont who sells a gun legally to somebody and then, you know, something happens to that guy, he goes nuts or something, and he kills somebody, should the gun shop owner be held liable? I think not.”

“On the other hand, if you have a manufacturer that is sending guns into an area and really knows that those guns are not being used by the people or bought by the people in that area but are being sold to criminals, should we hold that manufacturer liable? Absolutely,” Sanders insisted.

Stephanopoulos followed up, saying, “just to be clear on this issue, you can’t say today that you would vote for that 2005 legislation, you’d vote for some revisions on the manufacturers, but you’re not prepared to say that the vote you made back in 2005 was wrong?”

“Look, I’ve cast over 10,000 votes in my life and many pieces of legislation are complicated. They have good stuff in it. They have bad stuff in it,” Sanders claimed.

“I am absolutely willing to take another look at that legislation and get rid of the onerous provisions. When gun manufacturers, for example, are selling guns into an area and know that those guns are going into the hands of criminals, absolutely, those gun manufacturers should be held accountable,” Sanders insisted.

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