The National Rifle Association took to Twitter on Monday and showed its support for comments Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders made on gun industry immunity in Sunday night's heated Democratic debate.
In a fiery exchange between the Vermont senator and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sanders defended his vote for legislation that would not hold gun manufacturers liable for mass shootings and the NRA tweeted that his comments were "spot-on."
The tweet was accompanied by a graphic of the senator's remarks:
During the debate held in Flint, Michigan,
MSNBC notes that host Anderson Cooper asked both Sanders and Clinton if they support a lawsuit filed by families of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting victims.
While the lawsuit is against Remington Arms Company, the manufacturer of the weapon the gunman used, Cooper pointed out that the suit "might not go anywhere" because of a law backed by Sanders in 2005 which "shields gun manufacturers from certain lawsuits when someone legally buys a gun and then intentionally misuses it."
"If you go to a store and you legally purchase a gun, and three days later you go out and start killing people, is the point to hold the gun shop owner or the manufacturer of that gun liable? If that's the point, I disagree," he said.
"If they are selling a product to a person who buys it legally, what you're talking about is ending gun manufacturing in America."
Clinton, however, voted against the bill and argued that "no other industry in America has absolute immunity."
Meanwhile, supporters maintain that the situation is not unique to the gun industry and
PolitiFact notes that "Congress passed a number of laws that protect a variety of business sectors from lawsuits in certain situations."
According to
The Hill, the NRA's tweet was highlighted by Correct the Record, a super PAC that backs Clinton.