--- title: Hillary Clinton Hits Sanders on Rural Guns description: Hillary Clinton came after Senator Bernie Sanders on guns at a New York State rally on Monday, suggesting weapons coming out of his state are... canonical: https://time.com/4289129/hillary-clinton-sanders-gun-policies/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-11T19:56:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:38:24.364Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Hits Sanders on Rural Guns og:description: Hillary Clinton came after Senator Bernie Sanders on guns at a New York State rally on Monday, suggesting weapons coming out of his state are... og:url: https://time.com/4289129/hillary-clinton-sanders-gun-policies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d2e0acd6feb6979/69888eb40a4a2250129c9333/hillary-clinton1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (C) takes part in a gun control panel with (L-R) Rita Kestenbaum, Marie Delus, Erica Smegielski, Natasha Christopher, Sandy Phillips, and Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) in Port Washington, New Yo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Hits Sanders on Rural Guns twitter:description: Hillary Clinton came after Senator Bernie Sanders on guns at a New York State rally on Monday, suggesting weapons coming out of his state are... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d2e0acd6feb6979/69888eb40a4a2250129c9333/hillary-clinton1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Takes Aim at Sanders on Gun Policies by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 11, 2016 7:56 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes part in a gun control panel in Port Washington, N.Y., on April 11, 2016. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton takes part in a gun control panel in Port Washington, N.Y., on April 11, 2016.Lucas Jackson—Reuters by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Apr 11, 2016 7:56 PM UTC Hillary Clinton came after Senator Bernie Sanders on guns at a New York State rally on Monday, suggesting weapons coming out of his state are frequently used to commit crimes in the Empire state. The Vermont Senator has defended votes against stronger restrictions on gun manufacturers by saying that as a representative of a rural state he has voted to protect the rights of his constituents. At a rally in Port Washington, [_Politico_ reports](http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-guns-221806#ixzz45XtO4M6F), Clinton suggested that reasoning was not sufficient. “Most of the guns that are used in crimes and violence and killings in New York come from out of state. And the state that has the highest per capita number of those guns that end up committing crimes in New York come from Vermont,” Clinton said. She attended the event with family members of victims of mass shootings, _Politico_ [reports](http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-guns-221806#ixzz45XtO4M6F). “It’s easy to cross borders. Criminals, domestic abusers, traffickers, people who are dangerously mentally ill — they cross borders too. And sometimes they do it to get the guns they use,” Clinton said. “This has to become a voting issue for those of us who want to save lives.” Sanders has come under fire for voting in favor of a bill that would give gun manufacturers immunity from lawsuits if their weapons were used in tragic events. Victims of mass shootings gathered for a [rally in New York on Friday](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/sanders-blasted-gun-stance-shooting-victims-families-article-1.2593803), where they criticized Sanders’ stance on gun manufacturers. Sanders defended his stance on guns in a recent interview with the New York _Daily News_ saying he has received a “D rating” from the National Rifle Association. He also indicated he’d be willing to consider suits in some cases. “Do I think that that gun dealer should be sued for selling me a legal product that he misused? \[Shakes head no.\] 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,” Sanders told the New York [_Daily News_](http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/transcript-bernie-sanders-meets-news-editorial-board-article-1.2588306). ” I think there are grounds for those suits, but not if you sell me a legal product.” \[[_Politico_](http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-guns-221806#ixzz45XtO4M6F)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4289129/hillary-clinton-sanders-gun-policies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4289129/hillary-clinton-sanders-gun-policies/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Takes Aim at Sanders on Gun Policies","datePublished":"2016-04-11T19:56:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:38:24.364Z","description":"Hillary Clinton came after Senator Bernie Sanders on guns at a New York State rally on Monday, suggesting weapons coming out of his state are...","url":"https://time.com/4289129/hillary-clinton-sanders-gun-policies/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","Clinton","Guns","Bernie Sanders"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d2e0acd6feb6979/69888eb40a4a2250129c9333/hillary-clinton1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d2e0acd6feb6979/69888eb40a4a2250129c9333/hillary-clinton1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (C) takes part in a gun control panel with (L-R) Rita Kestenbaum, Marie Delus, Erica Smegielski, Natasha Christopher, Sandy Phillips, and Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) in Port Washington, New Yo","caption":"Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (C) takes part in a gun control panel with (L-R) Rita Kestenbaum, Marie Delus, Erica Smegielski, Natasha Christopher, Sandy Phillips, and Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) in Port Washington, New Yo","creditText":"Lucas Jackson—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4289129/hillary-clinton-sanders-gun-policies/","name":"Hillary Clinton Takes Aim at Sanders on Gun Policies"}}]}] ```