Candidates, in national and state races, covet, fear or scorn grades given by the National Rifle Association for their positions on firearms.
Marks for 2016 presidential contenders will be issued once the political parties have chosen their nominees, the NRA said. But some candidates previously have been graded.
Among Republicans, rating as Florida’s governor by authorizing the nation’s first "stand your ground" law in 2005. as a U.S. senator from Texas. as governor of New Jersey, a heavily Democratic state with some of the nation’s most . Christie said he’s seeking "the right balance" between public safety and gun rights and, in his concurrent quest for the White House, in November to toughen a ban on firearms possession by convicted domestic violence offenders.
Among top Democrats, Hillary Clinton earned the NRA's F rating as a U.S. senator from New York for, among other things, voting to reverse gun manufacturers’ immunity from lawsuits. (She was in January; husband Bill Clinton, as president, signed an assault weapons ban in 1994 that expired a decade later.) Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont from the NRA for supporting background checks and opposing the gun show loophole.
Sanders, who represents a largely rural state, has drawn some liberals' criticism for his . He has said his position is more nuanced.