Authors note: I would like to make it very clear that I did not, and do not intend to exploit the tragedy at The Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina. I completed this diary Wednesday afternoon and I intended to publish it Wednesday evening. When the first news stories about the shooting started breaking, I decided to hold the diary.
My heart goes out to the victims and their families. I don't want to use this horrific crime to score political points, but the issue of guns and gun-control will continue to haunt us if we don't drastically change the gun culture which dominates so much of life and death in the United States. I have decided to publish the diary because tragedies like this only highlight the issue of gun violence. I don't want to minimize this tragedy, but I feel that I must speak out, before the next one, and you can be sure that there will be a next one, and more after that, unless we make reducing gun violence a priority of every American. We certainly need a President who will lead the effort.
As President Obama said this morning in his statement on the Massacre in Charleston.
I don't need to be constrained about the emotions tragedies like this raise," the president said. "I've had to make comments like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times."
"Now is the time for mourning and healing, but let's be clear: At some point as a country, we have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries," the president said. "It is in our power to do something about it… I say this knowing the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those opportunities."
Here is the diary as originally written.
Throughout his career in both the House and Senate, Bernie Sanders has frequently voted against efforts to regulate guns. He has even backed some wacky, right-wing, pro-gun legislation.
Bernie voted to prohibit the United Nations from restricting gun ownership in the US. That is some crazy,Tea Party, paranoid insanity, but Bernie voted for it. Bernie has supported some gun-control measures, such as limiting the size of ammunition clips and banning assault rifles.
But, Bernie has consistently argued that the Federal Government should not be allowed to regulate guns - he feels the States should be the only ones to regulate firearms. It is very clear that State regulation does not work. It is easy for someone from a highly regulated State like New York or Illinois to drive to an unregulated State and buy guns to bring back to their home State. Street gangs do this on a daily basis.
I have to question whether Bernie's argument that States must be given the exclusive right to regulate isn't just a way to avoid the issue in Congress. This sounds like the social conservative insistence that only States can regulate marriage. Bernie has also consistently voted to protect gun manufacturers from lawsuits brought by the victims whose lives have been destroyed by gun violence.
I wonder how his supporters feel about his views on gun-control. I bet many are unaware of how much Bernie favors gun owners, gun makers and all that 2nd Amendment BS. I've included a list of some of Sen. Sander's votes both for and against gun-control. I also copied the statement on guns from his campaign website, which is very revealing.
Here is Bernie's voting record on guns from ontheissues.org
Voted YES on banning high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets.
Voted YES on allowing firearms in checked baggage on Amtrak trains.
Voted YES on prohibiting foreign & UN aid that restricts US gun ownership.
Voted YES on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers.
Voted YES on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse.
Voted NO on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1.
Here is what Bernie's website says about his views on gun-control:
Guns: A mixed approach. No federal handgun waiting period. Some protection for gun manufacturers. Ban assault weapons.
In the House of Representatives, Sanders voted against the pro-gun-control Brady Bill, writing that he believes states, not the federal government, can handle waiting periods for handguns. Soon after, he voted yes for the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act that included an assault weapons ban. He has voted to ban some lawsuits against gun manufacturers and for the Manchin-Toomey legislation expanding federal background checks.
Bernie voted against the Brady Bill??? The Brady Bill established Federal background checks on people purchasing guns. It was passed in the House by 50 votes and the Senate voted 2 to 1 to pass it. Freaking Ronald Reagan lobbied
for the Brady Bill!!! That is not a "mixed approach". That is pandering to the NRA. To be fair, Bernie has earned "F" ratings from the NRA - the NRA hands out these ratings quite frequently to any legislator who opposes even one of the laws they lobby for.
Many progressives have joined the Sanders campaign without looking at how he stands on issues other than income inequality and breaking up the big banks. Most assume that he must be progressive on every issue that matters and that is not necessarily the case. Gun-Control is a big issue for me, and Bernie Sanders is certainly no progressive on the issue of guns.
In our country, every day brings new tragedies due to gun violence. So far this year, 5,718 people have died from gun violence and 11.262 have been wounded. Every day 32 people are killed by guns. More people have died in gun violence on the streets of America in the first 6 months of this year, than died in over a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stopping this senseless gun violence is an important national priority. That is why I probably won't be voting for Bernie. He seems unwilling to take action to stop the scourge of guns and gun violence.
His opposition to assault weapons is all well and good, but it is a small part of the problem. The real issue is handguns, which account for the overwhelming majority of gun deaths. Bernie's votes against Federal gun laws may reflect the fact that he represents a rural state, but they are inexcusable in a Progressive Democrat running for the Presidency.