Sen. hopeful Sullivan did legal work for gun groups

BOSTON (AP) - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Sullivan - a critic of a bill to expand federal firearms background checks - has performed legal work for a Springfield gun maker and a Connecticut-based firearms trade association.

Sullivan works as a partner at the Ashcroft Law Firm and lists Smith & Wesson and the National Shooting Sports Foundation among clients who have paid him or the firm more than $5,000 for his legal services.

A spokeswoman for Sullivan said that work didn't include lobbying.

Sullivan, a former acting director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has portrayed the Senate bill as a feel-good measure which would do little to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

The four other Democratic and Republican candidates have expressed support for the bill.

Cox Media Group