Here\’s another reason to like Bernie Sanders (and to compare him favorably against Hillary “What position should I take today” Clinton.)
With a hat tip to Mary Catherine Ham, whose blog is where I pulled these quotes from, this is what Senator Sanders had to say about guns, on this past Sunday\’s State Of The Union show on CNN:
“If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer and the murderer kills somebody with a gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible? Not any more than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beats somebody over the head with a hammer. That is not what a lawsuit should be about.
“Folks who do not like guns is fine, but we have millions of people who are gun owners in this country; 99.9 percent of those people obey the law. I want to see real serious debate and action on guns. But it is not going to take place if we simply have extreme positions on both sides. I think I can bring us to the middle”
Can you find anything in that statement to disagree with? If so, let me in on it, because I can\’t.
Sanders did not go further, and state the obvious implication of his comment, which is that gun control laws, logical and necessary though they may be, do not stop lawbreakers from using guns…because, inherently, if you are a lawbreaker, by definition, laws do not inform your behavior.
Self-interest, on the other hand might – which is why I support mandatory jail sentences for anyone carrying an illegal weapon and stiffer mandatory jail sentences for anyone in possession of a weapon while committing a crime, regardless of whether the weapon is actually used in that crime.
My theory is that the prospect of being put in jail, with no clever legal end-around available, gives even a serial lawbreaker a reason not to be packing.
Based on his above comments, I would not be surprised if Bernie Sanders would agree with me.
And based on 30 years of comments, I would not be surprised if Hillary Clinton would…..say whatever her political advisors tell her to.
