SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Though he's mostly a dream candidate for progressive advocates, Bernie Sanders has an Achilles heel in the Democratic primary: his past opposition to gun control measures and support for several pro-gun bills backed by the National Rifle Association.

The Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate, revered by progressives on most issues, sought to get right with anti-gun-violence advocates Sunday during an interview on NBC's Meet The Press, days after the latest of many mass shootings in the United States, this time by a gunman at two military centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

He sounded nothing like the senator who voted against the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993 that imposed background checks and five-day waiting periods for firearm purchases, or the senator who voted to allow guns on Amtrak and to shield gun makers and sellers from liability if their guns are used criminally.

"I come from the state which has virtually no gun control. And yet, I voted to ban certain types of assault weapons, I voted to close the gun show loophole," Sanders told host Chuck Todd, before also calling for stricter background checks. "Nobody should have a gun who has a criminal background, who's involved in domestic abuse situations, people should not have guns who are going to hurt other people, who are unstable. And second of all I believe that we need to make sure that certain types of guns used to kill people, exclusively, not for hunting, they should not be sold in the United States of America."

Music to the ears of gun safety advocates—for the most part. They remain skeptical of Sanders' support for the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, described by Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern as "the most odious NRA–backed law in recent memory" in a highly critical column titled "Bernie Sanders, Gun Nut."

Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, called Sanders' remarks "a very positive development" that show he's "getting the message." But the group isn't sold yet. "Todd did not ask him about his support for the gun industry immunity bill, so we can't gauge if Senator Sanders has moved at all on that issue," Everitt said.

This is no indication Sanders regrets that vote. Indeed, he recently defended it on CNN by arguing that a gun manufacturer shouldn't be held accountable for shootings "any more than you'd hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beat somebody over the head with a hammer." The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence responded by dismissing that defense as an "utter fabrication" that gives legal immunity to "negligent" manufacturers and dealers, concluding that "Sanders' position is totally unacceptable."

A Sanders spokesman didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

In 2013, Sanders voted in favor of gun reforms advanced by Democrats in the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, including closing loopholes in the background check system and banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips. (None of those proposals passed.) It was a notable shift for the senator, though one that he was less than excited about. He told a home state paper that gun control is "not one of my major issues" and that even if Congress "passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don’t think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen."

On Meet The Press this past Sunday, Sanders said that on firearm laws, "We don't have to argue with each other and yell at each other, but we need a common-sense solution."

Sanders' gun record puts him crosswise with Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley—who have criticized the NRA and called for more gun control after a gunman massacred nine Americans at a historic black church in Charleston in June—as well as progressive activists who otherwise heap praise on him as a bold fighter for the middle class.

"We fight him when he's wrong," said Charles Chamberlain, the executive director of Democracy For America, a progressive advocacy group founded by Howard Dean. He called gun control an issue that's important to members of his group, and one "where our members would differ on Bernie's policies."

He added, "There's no one out there who we're going to agree with all the time on everything."