Clinton focuses on gun violence ahead of Iowa caucuses
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Hillary Clinton will urge Iowans on Saturday to make gun safety a voting issue when they gather with their neighbors to caucus on Monday.
According to a Clinton aide, Clinton will address the gun violence epidemic at a campaign event in Ames. Joining Clinton will be former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, and her husband, Captain Mark Kelly. The couple endorsed Clinton last month.
"As President Obama stated last month, Americans should vote based on a candidate's record and willingness to take on the gun lobby," the aide said. "Unfortunately, throughout his career, Sen. [Bernie] Sanders has failed to meet the president's test."
Clinton and Sanders, who are neck and neck in Iowa, have repeatedly sparred over the issue of gun safety. Sanders' campaign said earlier this week that he plans to co-sponsor a bill that would repeal legislation, passed in 2005, that protects gunmakers and sellers from liability lawsuits. Sanders voted for the 2005 bill and he has repeatedly defended that vote, citing pieces of the legislation that further gun safety as justification.
But Clinton is likely to view his decision to co-sponsor the bill, introduced by two Democrats who have both endorsed her, as a flip-flop.
"The NRA wrote this bill that said no one can sue a gun maker or a gun seller and called it the most significant piece of pro-gun legislation in 20 years," she said earlier this month in an interview with Chris Matthews, "and when it really mattered, Sen. Sanders voted with the gun lobby and I voted against the gun lobby."
She called on Sanders then "to stand up and say 'I got this one wrong.'"
In the last week, as Clinton campaigned across the state, she has largely avoided talking about Sanders' record on guns. She has focused instead on where she parts ways with her rival on other issues, like health care and Wall Street reform.
She has cast herself as the candidate who is best prepared to sit in the Oval Office.
"If you stand up for [me] Monday night," Clinton said Friday in Des Moines, "I will stand up and fight for you as hard as I can for the next four years."