Bernie Sanders’ Political Revolution
It’s not like ideas that I’m pulling out of my head. These are ideas that, without exception, have the support of the majority of the American people. And they are expanding and improving the instant background check to make sure the guns do not get into the hands of people who are criminals, or have mental problems. That’s kinda common sense. Number two, you got this loophole that now exists for gun shows, which enables guns to be sold to people without a background check. That’s got to be eliminated. Number three, and I think there’s majority support for it, I don’t think certain types of assault weapons that are military weapons, designed just to kill people, should be sold in the United States, and I would ban those as well.
We’re gonna have to bring law enforcement together. We’re gonna have to bring some of the sensible gun people together with some of the gun-control advocates and work on that consensus. If we do that, we can do something significant.
You have praised the lawsuits that humbled the Big Tobacco companies. Why are guns different? Why did you vote in 2005 to strip – from gun victims and the states that pick up the cost of gun violence – the same right to sue these gun companies? Didn’t ending the threat of lawsuits remove any impetus to have safer products, or to clean up distribution networks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals?
It’s a piece of legislation which has a number of provisions in it. I come from a state that has virtually no gun control and, thank God [knocks on wood], has a reasonably low crime rate, OK? That is the culture of my state. But you can go through every vote I cast on guns. Now we can talk about Hillary Clinton representing Wall Street as a senator from New York, right? That’s what happens in a state, OK?
I had voted for instant background checks, to do away with the gun-show loophole. That’s a pretty strong record for somebody that comes from a state that has no gun control. Every one of those votes was opposed by a lot of people in my state. So that’s the context.
Now this legislation. We have a lot of gun stores in Vermont, small shops. If Mr. Smith, the gun-shop owner, sells you a gun legally, you have your instant background check, you get the gun. Then you flip out and you shoot your wife. It happens. Should the gun-shop owner be held liable for selling you the product?
I would think the courts could make that determination.
No. Well, let me make it: I don’t think he should. I honestly don’t think it should any more than if you picked up that table and banged me over the head and killed me. Would you hold that person [who sold the table] liable? We know what guns do. Guns have the capability of killing people. But I do not believe that somebody who lawfully sells a gun to somebody else should be held responsible if somebody uses that product wrongfully. That was in that bill.
Bernie Sanders’ Political Revolution, Page 13 of 15