More about Bernie, MTP and guns [View all]

[merrily]

Please see: Video of Bernie on MTP, July 26, 2015 and DUers' comments at http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017281718
Please see also my earlier OP, titled "FWIW, a politifact article on Bernie and some of his gun votes." http://www.democraticunderground.com/128027343

FYI:

The State of Vermont is 9,523 square miles and the population is 626,562 (as of 2014). In 2011, 78 gun-related fatalities occurred in the State of Vermont. Vermonters hunt, including for food. http://www.pressherald.com/2014/11/23/vermont-trains-local-food-enthusiasts-adult-onset-hunters-to-bag-own-deer/

The City of New York is 469 square miles (all boroughs, not only Manhattan, the most densely populated) and the population is 8,405,837 (as of 2014). In 2011, 366 gun-related fatalities occurred in the City of New York, down from 524 in 2000. (They decreased further in 2012 and at least one article credits the decrease to a decrease in "stop and frisk.&quot

http://nypost.com/2013/04/29/city-gun-deaths-plummet/

To my surprise, there is also hunting in New York City, probably for food as well. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/recreation/hunting_and_trapping.shtml-t

What makes sense for the State of Vermont may not make sense for New York City, or vice versa. One size does not fit all, which is exactly why the Constitution provided for Senators that represent each state equally, regardless of the size and population of a state, and why Sanders points out that each state is, for the most part, free to make its own gun laws. However, be they state or federal, I have little doubt that the SCOTUS would strike down as unconstitutional the kinds of gun control laws some people want, anyway. And even less doubt that such laws would be challenged in court.

As Bernie says in the MTP video, the state of Vermont has no gun control at all. So, the stand of the people whom he is supposed to represent most is clear. Yet, he has voted for some control measures and says we must do more.

As Bernie also says in the MTP video, as Congress has been operating, compromise is necessary if anything at all is to get done. On the one hand, people make up shit about Bernie's being a purist. On the other hand, he's damned if he compromises.

On the one hand, we've been reminded often that Obama is President of all the people, not only THE most progressive in the land--and that is truer of a President than it is of a Senator. However, when Sanders is the Senator of all people in Vermont, not only the most anti-weapon contingent in Vermont, he gets damned. The ever shifting sands and double standards betray the speakers, but that is beside the point.


Finally, Sanders rating from the NRA is D- to F, not exactly indicative of a "gun nut."



I am not apologizing or rationalizing. I simply think we need to have facts at hand. Facts may not be easy to present as are bs one liners, but I am partial to them anyway.