PA Bill Number: HB2089
Title: Establishing the Coal and Clay Mine Subsidence and Landslide Insurance and Assistance Program within the Department of Environmental Protection; ...
Description: Establishing the Coal and Clay Mine Subsidence and Landslide Insurance and Assistance Program within the Department of Environmental Protec ...
Last Action: Referred to INSURANCE
Last Action Date: May 14, 2024
Hillary Clinton Says Bernie Sanders Not Tough Enough on Guns :: 10/14/2015
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bernie Sanders' has a D- rating from the NRA, but his near-failing grade wasn't enough to keep him from facing attacks on his record on guns from fellow Democratic contenders at Tuesday's presidential debate.
When asked by moderator Anderson Cooper whether the Vermont senator is tough enough on guns, Hillary Clinton replied unequivocally, "No, not at all."
The response caused a room of DC Young Democrats hosting a debate-watching party in a Washington, D.C. bar, where TheStreet has a team on the ground, to erupt in laughter.
Gun control is one arena where Sanders appears to be out of step with the Democratic Party and the liberal voter base. "His past record doesn't seem to be too motivated toward additional gun control," said John Hudak, fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.
Some have characterized Sanders as a "gun nut" in the past, which isn't exactly fair. However, he does have a mixed record on firearms laws. He voted on numerous occasions in opposition to the Brady Bill, a law to mandate federal background checks on gun buyers and implement a waiting-period on purchases, and also supported legislation protecting firearms makers from lawsuits from victims of gun violence.
Sanders directly addressed his support for protecting gun manufacturers from legal action from gun victims on Tuesday and argued that the legislation was highly complex -- another assertion Clinton shot down. "It wasn't that complicated to me," she said. "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.'"
Sanders was prepared for questions on his gun record and emphasized his support for closing gun show loopholes, enforcing background checks and banning assault weapons. He also noted that he is from a rural state, where he said the views on gun control are different than in urban states, "whether we like it or not."
He has worked to calm concerns regarding his gun record among progressives leading up to the debate as well. At a campaign rally in Boulder, Colorado on Saturday calling for "commonsense approaches" to make sure guns "are kept out of the hands of people who should not have those guns" and a ban on semi-automatic weapons. He has also been careful to include in his rhetoric the role of mental health in gun violence in America.
"Maybe a Sanders presidency will be tougher on gun control than Bernie Sanders in the legislature has been," Hudak said. "But I don't know, I can't tell, because I don't know what his actual position on gun control is, and I don't think most people do."
PolitiFact breaks down Sanders' gun voting record and points out that he has cast pro-gun control votes as well.
Sanders tangled with almost all the candidates on this issue. Here's the full exchange:
