Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign event in Brooklyn, New York on April 8, 2016. | AP Photo Families of mass shooting victims sound off on Sanders

Family members of victims of gun violence are not through with Bernie Sanders.

At a heated press conference outside of City Hall in New York City on Friday, families of those affected by mass shootings urged the Vermont senator to apologize for his recent comments on guns, reiterating calls that some of them said were previously unanswered and dismissed.


A number of the families of those killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have filed a class-action lawsuit against Remington, alleging that the company's marketing efforts inspired the Sandy Hook shooter — and several of them were on hand to give the Vermont senator a piece of their mind.

Sanders was asked about their case during an interview published Monday by the New York Daily News, in which he said he didn't support their right to sue Remington.

"Do I think that that gun dealer should be sued for selling me a legal product that he misused?" Sanders asked rhetorically, shaking his head no. "But I do believe that gun manufacturers and gun dealers should be able to be sued when they should know that guns are going into the hands of wrong people. So if somebody walks in and says, "I'd like 10,000 rounds of ammunition," you know, well, you might be suspicious about that."

Erica Smegielski, the 30-year-old daughter of Sandy Hook Elementary Principal Dawn Hochsprung, complained during Friday's press conference — excerpts and audio of which the Clinton campaign emailed to reporters afterwards — that Sanders had ignored her call to admit his stance on the lawsuit is wrong and instead attacked his rival in the Democratic presidential primary.

“It is so shameful that you ignored my call for an apology and when pushed by a reporter, instead of responding to me, you attacked Hillary Clinton," Smegielski said.

Sandy Phillips, who lost her daughter Jessica Ghawi during the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, in July 2012, said that Sanders had treated her family disrespectfully during a phone call.

"Bernie promised to meet with us face to face," she said about Sanders, who has been campaigning in New York. "We did have a telephone conversation, he was 15 minutes late to that telephone conversation. The first thing he had the nerve to say to my husband was 'I'm very busy,’” she said. “Well Senator Sanders, we had been busy too. We had been busy burying our daughter."

“Because of Bernie Sanders and others who voted like him, I and other Sandy Hook families are waiting for justice,” said Jillian Soto, who lost her sister Victoria at Sandy Hook. “I believe Remington acted irresponsibly and should be held accountable. I deserve for a jury to determine that, not the politicians in Washington, like Bernie Sanders.”

"Remington and others designed and executed an immoral marketing campaign that specifically targets violent-prone, military-obsessed young men and the result is both predictable and deadly," she added. "Our families want the marketers, distributors, and sellers of the AR-15 held accountable for what happened at Sandy Hook. We want these profit-hungry to pay for their reckless marketing decision to stop targeting violent-prone young men as their ideal consumers."

“Senator Sanders voted twice to protect gun dealers and sellers from being held accountable when their irresponsible actions led to heinous crimes,” New York City Public Advocate Trish James said. "Bernie stands with the gun industry and Hillary stands with families and communities."

Sanders has said repeatedly that the Clinton campaign and its allies are unfairly maligning his record on guns, pointing to his "D-minus" rating from the National Rifle Association — while his supporters have accused the former secretary of state of using gun victims' families as political props.

".@BernieSanders prioritized gun manufacturers' rights over the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook," Clinton tweeted on Wednesday, linking to a video of her slamming his remarks to the Daily News.

On Thursday, Sanders complained to CBS News' Charlie Rose that linking him to the Newtown massacre was unfair.

"Do I bear responsibility for the tragedy and the horrors of Sandy Hook? So, you know, let's get off of that," he said.