The NRA helped to elect Bernie Sanders to the Senate in 1990

 Bernie Sanders has been enjoying quite a bit of success as a Presidential candidate since he made the announcement that he would seek that office in 2016 but there is one issue his opponents feel they can counter him on. See, Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley cannot move to the left of Bernie Sanders on many issues because he is already about as far over there as you can get.

  But Bernie Sanders comes from a state where there are virtually no gun laws–there is no permitting required in Vermont…period. And this has to be an issue the liberals are not happy about, especially with the recent gun control push back on.

  But did you know that it might have been the NRA which actually got Bernie Sanders elected to the Senate in the first place? Here is how it went down according to this article:

A few days before Election Day in 1990, the National Rifle Association sent a letter to its 12,000 members in Vermont, with an urgent message about the race for the state’s single House seat.

Vote for the socialist, the gun rights group said. It’s important.

“Bernie Sanders is a more honorable choice for Vermont sportsmen than ­Peter Smith,” wrote Wayne LaPierre, who was — and still is — a top official at the national NRA, backing Sanders over the Republican incumbent.

As a candidate in 1990, Sanders won over gun rights groups by promising to oppose one bill they hated — a measure that would establish a waiting period for handgun sales. In Congress, he kept that promise. The dynamic served as an early demonstration that, despite his pure-leftist persona, Sanders was at his core a pragmatic politician, calculating that he couldn’t win in rural Vermont without doing something for gun owners.

“The gun vote brought us down,” said Judy Shailor, Smith’s 1990 campaign manager.

  If Bernie Sanders has an Achilles Heal with the Democratic base it could be on the issue of gun control and his opponents are sure to try to use it against him. It will not matter to them if overall he has a D-rating with the NRA because they will pick and choose some of his gun votes to prove he is out of touch with the base on this issue.

  It has been reported that Hillary Clinton is trying to dig up dirt on Bernie Sanders and the linked to article above could be the first salvo fired at Bernie Sanders. If this is all she can come up with I am not sure trying to tie him to the NRA is going to work.

Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium