Sanders follows lead of O'Malley, Clinton, calling for wider gun safety reforms on eve of debate [View all]

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TUCSON, Ariz. — Responding to two college campus shootings in a single day, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders called for tougher gun controls, including more-rigorous background checks, and for vastly improving the country’s mental-health-care system.

“It goes without saying that our condolences go to the families of those who were killed, and our hearts and prayers go out for a full recovery for those that were wounded,” said Sanders, who opened his remarks at a Friday rally by mentioning the shootings at Northern Arizona University and Texas Southern University. “But we also know that we are tired of condolences, and we are tired of just prayers.”

Specifically, the Vermont senator called for a ban on the sale of assault-style weapons, closing the so-called gun-show loophole — which allows gun sales to proceed without a completed background check — and improving the review system intended to keep guns out of the hands of those, such as convicted criminals, who are not supposed to have firearms.

Also, he said, “We need a revolution in mental-health delivery in this country” to care for “ thousands of people who are suicidal, who are homicidal but cannot get the help they need when they need it.”

Although Sanders offered scant detail, the timing of his comments was noteworthy, coming three days before the first Democratic presidential debate, when he could face challenges on the gun issue from rivals Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley. Both candidates have called for a tougher crackdown on guns, one of the few issues where they stand to the left of Sanders.


read: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2015/10/10/sanders-calls-for-stiffer-gun-control.html