Sen. Sanders highlights 'brave vote' banning assault weapons, boasts 'strong record' on gun control

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) defended himself against an attack ad from allies of former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley (D) in an interview broadcast Sunday, saying he has a "strong record" on gun control.

"I cast what I think was a pretty brave vote banning assault weapons, doing away with the gun show loophole and fighting for instant background checks so that we make sure that guns do not fall in the hands of those people who should not have it," the presidential hopeful said on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."

Sanders said he comes from a state where gun rights are important to people, and he underscored the importance of a "national dialogue" to bridge the gap between those who disagree sharply in the debate over gun laws.

"One thing we can't have, we can't have people demagoguing against folks just because they go out and hunt and they own guns," he said. "On the other hand, rural America has got to understand that guns in Vermont are not the same thing as guns in Chicago, where they're used to kill kids or shoot at police officers."

read: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/28/bernie-sanders-responds-to-gun-ad-from-omalley-allies/


I like the comment about rural understanding of gun control vs. the problems urban centers face (it's much more clear than his earlier statement this week which was critical of gun control advocates in urban areas for supposedly misunderstanding rural folks' affinity for guns)

Some things I'm actually critical of in these statements...no mention of reasons behind his initial vote against the Brady Bill (finally voted for *expanded background checks contained in the Brady Bill about a year after the Sandy Hook shootings).

more...

After Sanders left the house to join the Senate, he voted in favor of bills “to allow firearms in checked bags and block funding to any foreign aid organization that registered or taxed Americans,” according to a profile on Sanders in Slate. In 2005, Sanders voted in favor of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which made it incredibly difficult for victims of gun violence to sue gun manufacturers and dealers for the harm their products inflict.
http://genprogress.org/voices/2015/05/27/36789/bernie-sanders-is-progressive-in-every-way-except-when-it-comes-to-guns/

Sanders has also voted against forcing states to respect concealed-carry permits issued by other states - to allow people to carry hidden guns around without a permit.

Moreover, he's been critical of gun control as a response to the wave of mass shootings and other gun violence which has plagued America...

“If you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don’t think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen,” Sanders told a liberal Vermont outlet after the Sandy Hook shootings.
http://newsl.org/2015/05/bernie-sanders-second-amendment-socialist/

In 2013 Sanders was making an argument similar to the one he made in an NPR interview which aired on the same day as the ad by the pro-O'Malley pac where he stated that, “If you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don’t think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen.”

He echoed that ambivalence to gun control in the NPR interview, stating, "I think that urban America has got to respect what rural America is about, where 99 percent of the people in my state who hunt are law abiding people."

"If anyone thinks that gun control itself is going to solve the problem of violence in this country, you're terribly mistaken. So, obviously, we need strong, sensible gun control and I will support it. But some people think it's going to solve all of our problems. It is not," he said.

"I can understand that if some Democrats or Republicans represent an urban area where people don't hunt, don't do target practice; they're not into guns. But, in my state, people go hunting and people do target practice. Talking about cultural divides in this country, you know, it is important for people in urban America to understand that families go out together and kids go out with their parents and they hunt and they enjoy the outdoors and that is a lifestyle that should not be condemned."

Also curious who he's talking about 'demagoguing against folks just because they go out and hunt and they own guns?' This looks like a strawman. Certainly none of our Democratic candidates have done this.

[AgingAmerican]

1. He backed Obama's gun control package after Sandy hook

He voted for the assault weapons ban, background checks and to close the gunshow loophole and gets an F from the NRA.

More strawman from you.

[bigtree]

2. actually a strawman from you

...I refer to that vote, a reversal of his position opposing background checks contained in the Brady Bill, in my op. He made this vote about a year after the Sandy Hook shootings for an amendment which ultimately failed.

Even with that vote, he gave a back hand to the notion that background checks were an important element in preventing violence...

2013 interview:

“If you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don’t think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen.”

Asked whether he’d vote for an assault-weapons ban if it reached the Senate floor, he said, “We’ll see. We’ll see what other things it is part of.”

“What about high-capacity ammunition?” Seven Days asked.

“That is something we’re looking at as well,” he said.

Asked why he was on the fence about the assault-weapons ban, which he backed in 1994, Sanders interrupted midsentence, saying, “This is not one of my major issues. It’s an issue out there. I’ve told you how I feel about it. If there’s anything else you want to ask me about, I’m happy to answer. But that’s about it.”

http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/bernie-one-note-in-second-term-sanders-stays-relentlessly-on-message/Content?oid=2243075

[AgingAmerican]

3. 100% facts

Description of Straw Man

The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position. This sort of "reasoning" has the following pattern:

Person A has position X.
Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of X).
Person B attacks position Y.
Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.

This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because attacking a distorted version of a position simply does not constitute an attack on the position itself. One might as well expect an attack on a poor drawing of a person to hurt the person.

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/straw-man.html

[bigtree]

4. just like you ignored his record of ambivalence to indifference on the importance of gun control

...which I highlighted in my op.

Ignored those to focus on your personal attack on my motives and a false assessment of my post.

[AgingAmerican]

5. Strawmen are strawmen

Everything I stated in my original reply are 100% factual.

My guess is you have an agenda.

[bigtree]

6. this is a presidential campaign

...and people on this board, in this forum, are responding to these politicians' campaign rhetoric with their own 'agendas,' whether those are personal or institutional concerns about policy or politics.

What's your 'agenda?'

[AgingAmerican]

7. Difference being

We don't have to ignore or reinterpret reality to fit our agenda. The facts speak for themselves. Bernies whole campaign is based on facts. No implying this or that necessary.

[SunSeeker]

8. Sanders is a politician who's done what his Vermont constituents have wanted.

That is to be expected.

But he is wrong about strong gun control not having a profound effect on mass shootings. Australia passed strong gun control after a horrible mass shooting and have not had one since.

And he is wrong to create a gun control strawman, claiming "some people" incorrectly think gun control is "going to solve all of our problems." No one thinks that. I am disappointed to hear such a dishonest claim come out of Bernie's mouth.

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. "Demagoguing against folks just because they go out and hunt and they own guns."

Democratic candidates know better than to do that. That's why John Kerry went hunting.

But all you have to do is read this forum to see that kind of stuff all over the place.

[Vattel]

10. Do you think the following is false?

“If you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don’t think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen,”

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11. I think it's a poor excuse for resisting gun control

...which is a powerful element in reducing gun violence in many countries. I view rhetoric like that as an excuse and an impetus to do nothing about guns. It's one of those throw off lines to defend the indefensible.

[Vattel]

12. That makes sense.