Getty Obama's 2016 gun terms might leave Sanders without White House support

President Barack Obama might have trouble campaigning for Sen. Bernie Sanders if he becomes the Democratic nominee—at least if Obama sticks to the terms he laid out in his op-ed on gun control published Thursday night.

“I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform,” Obama wrote in The New York Times.


Obama gave some specific definitions for common-sense gun reform in the op-ed. Among them: Congressional votes that “guaranteed that manufacturers enjoy virtual immunity from lawsuits, which means that they can sell lethal products and rarely face consequences.”

Obama grouped that under laws that he argues have made the gun industry “entirely unaccountable,” blaming the gun lobby for bending Congress to its will.

Sanders voted for that provision when he was still in the House in 2005, and has stood by it during his presidential campaign.

“The issues that you're talking about is, if somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer, and that murderer kills somebody with the gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible?” Sanders said, in an appearance on CNN in July. “Not anymore than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beat somebody over the head with a hammer.”

The White House declined comment Thursday night on whether the president's op-ed should be read as a statement about his feelings about the primary candidates, or whether Sanders’ record would stand in the way of the president’s support should he become the nominee. The administration has tried to keep the political focus on expanded background checks and the rest of the president's gun actions, trying to deflect anything that takes them from a carefully crafted week of messaging, capped by a town hall on guns live on CNN.

Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said he hadn’t seen Obama’s op-ed, but wasn’t concerned about winning the president’s support.

As for the gun manufacturer liability law, Briggs said, “I hope you know that Senator Sanders has said he’d be willing to take another look at that legislation.”

Briggs also highlighted Sanders’ D and F ratings from the NRA, and said the question was really for Hillary Clinton: “What legislation did she sponsor when she was in the Senate to make progress on this issue?

Gun control has become one of the central points of contention in the Democratic primary race between Sanders and Clinton, with the former secretary of state criticizing her progressive challenger for being out of step with the party on this issue and campaigning all week long as someone who’s been out ahead of the White House calling for more restrictions.

In the first Democratic debate, Sanders attributed his voting record to coming from Vermont, a state with a different gun culture, and best representing the interests of his constituents.

Sanders backed Obama’s executive actions announced this week, quickly issuing a statement promising to keep them in place if he’s elected president and knocking the gun lobby for its actions.

"It's become clear that no mass shooting, no matter how big or bloody, will inspire Republicans to put children and innocent Americans over the interests of the NRA. They are simply more loyal to gun lobbyists than our children,” Sanders said in the statement. “A vast majority of the American people, including responsible gun owners who are sickened by the deaths of so many innocent people, agree with the common sense reforms announced today.”

