Bernie often defends himself on gun control by pointing to 1988 when he claims that because of his support for gun control he lost his race for the Vermont House.
That race is kind of a sore point for a couple of reasons
1. Because of his run as an independent this elected a Republican.
2. The Republican. Peter Smith, later had an epiphany on gun control and supported an assault weapons ban and in 1990 the NRA supported Bernie who refused to support the assault weapons ban.
"A few days before Election Day in 1990, the National Rifle Association sent a letter to its 12,000 members in Vermont, with an urgent message about the race for the state’s single House seat."
"Vote for the socialist, the gun rights group said. It’s important."
“Bernie Sanders is a more honorable choice for Vermont sportsmen than Peter Smith,” wrote Wayne LaPierre, who was — and still is — a top official at the national NRA, backing Sanders over the Republican incumbent.
"And true or false narratives aside, it speaks to a second factor vital to choosing a president: flexibility. There are votes and policy in Hillary’s career that go against my current beliefs. In every case, she has evolved since then, publicly, vocally. Yet Bernie remains rigid on his five Brady votes and only just now is reconsidering his support for gun manufacture immunity from liability, a protection he did not extend to other industries, such as fast food. Even as of this writing he is not committing to closing the so-called Charleston loophole, which, had it been closed, could have prevented a massacre."
"Sanders’ lack of flexibility on this and other issues that are outside the orbit of his core economic message is to me a big warning sign for both the inevitable, exponentially larger attacks of a general election, and of his ability to work with a divided Congress on getting anything of substance done. That the far majority of current and former elected officials in both Vermont and New Hampshire are backing Hillary to me underscores these warning signs. Finally, his refusal to raise money for Democrats that would be with him on the ballot recalls the pain of the 2010 electoral disaster, one which New Hampshire has only slowly begun to dig itself out of. “Political revolution” makes a nice slogan, but it’s not a plan."
That race is kind of a sore point for a couple of reasons
1. Because of his run as an independent this elected a Republican.
2. The Republican. Peter Smith, later had an epiphany on gun control and supported an assault weapons ban and in 1990 the NRA supported Bernie who refused to support the assault weapons ban.
"A few days before Election Day in 1990, the National Rifle Association sent a letter to its 12,000 members in Vermont, with an urgent message about the race for the state’s single House seat."
"Vote for the socialist, the gun rights group said. It’s important."
“Bernie Sanders is a more honorable choice for Vermont sportsmen than Peter Smith,” wrote Wayne LaPierre, who was — and still is — a top official at the national NRA, backing Sanders over the Republican incumbent.
https://t.co/UUFME4Pgik
This would define his entire career in both the House and Senate. He voted against the Brady bill four times. He voted notoriously for that 2005 bill that shields gun manufacturers from liability. He has said he's willing to support a new bill in the Senate-not by him-that would make some adjustments to that 2005 law but not abolish it.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/01/bernie-sees-light-sort-of.html
Even now though, Bernie is not backing off on the Charleston loophole-the Charleston Massacre could have been stopped by a longer waiting period.
But overall, Dean Barker makes a very important point. Hillary's often mocked ability to 'evolve' is a strength not a weakness, and Bernie's being 'rock solid' is problematic in a President. It reminds me of the stubbornness of George W. Bush.
"Sanders’ lack of flexibility on this and other issues that are outside the orbit of his core economic message is to me a big warning sign for both the inevitable, exponentially larger attacks of a general election, and of his ability to work with a divided Congress on getting anything of substance done. That the far majority of current and former elected officials in both Vermont and New Hampshire are backing Hillary to me underscores these warning signs. Finally, his refusal to raise money for Democrats that would be with him on the ballot recalls the pain of the 2010 electoral disaster, one which New Hampshire has only slowly begun to dig itself out of. “Political revolution” makes a nice slogan, but it’s not a plan."
https://t.co/UUFME4Pgik
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