Highlights from the Las Vegas Dem Debate: Guns
COOPER: Senator Webb, thank you very much. Let’s move on
to some of the most pressing issues facing our country right now, some
of the biggest issues right now in the headlines today. We’re going to
start with guns. The shooting in Oregon earlier this month, once again
it brought the issue of guns into the national conversation. Over the
last week, guns have been the most discussed political topic on Facebook
by two to one. Senator Sanders, you voted against the Brady bill that
mandated background checks and a waiting period. You also supported
allowing riders to bring guns in checked bags on Amtrak trains. For a
decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for
mass shootings is a bad idea. Now, you say you’re reconsidering that.
Which is it: shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not?
SANDERS:
Let’s begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie Sanders has a
D-minus voting rating (ph) from the NRA. Let’s also understand that back
in 1988 when I first ran for the United States Congress, way back then,
I told the gun owners of the state of Vermont and I told the people of
the state of Vermont, a state which has virtually no gun control, that I
supported a ban on assault weapons. And over the years, I have strongly
avoided instant background checks, doing away with this terrible gun
show loophole. And I think we’ve got to move aggressively at the federal
level in dealing with the straw man purchasers. Also I believe, and
I’ve fought for, to understand that there are thousands of people in
this country today who are suicidal, who are homicidal, but can’t get
the healthcare that they need, the mental healthcare, because they don’t
have insurance or they’re too poor. I believe that everybody in this
country who has a mental crisis has got to get mental health counseling
immediately. COOPER: Do you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits?
SANDERS:
Of course not. This was a large and complicated bill. There were
provisions in it that I think made sense. For example, do I think that a
gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody,
and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop
owner should be held responsible? I don’t. On the other hand, where you
have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to
criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action.
COOPER: Secretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns?
CLINTON:
No, not at all. I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose
90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it’s
time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our
country...
(APPLAUSE) ... supports background checks, and even the
majority of gun owners do. Senator Sanders did vote five times against
the Brady bill. Since it was passed, more than 2 million prohibited
purchases have been prevented. He also did vote, as he said, for this
immunity provision. I voted against it. I was in the Senate at the same
time. It wasn’t that complicated to me. It was pretty straightforward to
me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in America.
Everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. And
we need to stand up and say: Enough of that. We’re not going to let it
continue.
(APPLAUSE)
Full transcript here >>>>
