Voters Raise Concerns About Bernie Sanders’ Record On Guns

[No candidate is EVER going to align himself perfectly with MY beliefs, but Bernie comes closest. ---Bozo]
BY ALICE OLLSTEIN SEP 21, 2015 4:22PM

PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE — When she was 13 years old, Clai Lasher-Sommers’ step-father shot her through the back with a “huge rifle.” That traumatic experience, which she barely survived in 1970, motivated her to become a lifelong advocate for gun control her in home state of New Hampshire, where she gives speeches and pressures elected officials to pass local and national measures to restrict easy access to firearms.

Now, as she looks at the candidates for president who have descended on her politically-important state, she is torn. She says Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — who is currently ahead of all other Democrats in the polls in her state — has the best platform for “marginalized people,” but the worst record on gun control.

“I believe in everything he says and a lot of things he’s done in Washington, but I can’t vote for him,” she told ThinkProgress. “I will vote for whoever has enough clout to make the change, and I don’t believe [Sanders] will take this on. I can only look at a candidate who speaks loudly about it, because I can’t watch more people be shot.”

Other New Hampshire voters shared similar concerns, citing guns as the only red flag in Sanders’ otherwise progressive record.

At a campaign stop in Portsmouth over the weekend, Sanders pushed back against this sentiment, telling ThinkProgress: “You’re looking at a senator who voted to ban certain types of assault weapons. You’re looking at a senator who voted for instant background checks and wants to strengthen that, and who voted to do away with the so-called gun show loophole.”

Yet Sanders also cast a vote against the Brady Bill, legislation that instituted federal background checks and a five-day waiting period for gun purchases. He said at the time that states should be able to set their own waiting periods. Then, in 2007, he voted for a bill to prohibit foreign or United Nations aid to be used for gun control. In 2009, he voted to allow firearms on checked bags on Amtrak. His most controversial vote was cast in 2005, in favor of an NRA-backed bill to prevent victims of gun violence from being able to sue gun manufacturers for negligence.

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http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/09/21/3703618/voters-conflicted-about-bernie-sanders-on-guns/