Why do establishment dems only invoke other countries when it comes to gun control?

[gobears10]

I support much stronger gun control, and in that regard, I think Hillary Clinton and establishment Democrats are solid. They are right to point out how this frequency and scale of gun violence doesn't occur in any other advanced country. Hillary Clinton said an Australian-style gun buyback scheme is worth considering, which is great.

But when it comes to other countries having single-payer healthcare, much stronger labor unions, free college, etc., establishment Dems almost never say that we should learn from other countries in these areas. They say, "we do things differently in america, america is not like denmark."

So why can America be more like Australia or Britain on gun control, but not like Australia, Britain, or Canada when it comes to healthcare and college? Why is Bernie Sanders practically the only guy talking about how other major countries structure their political-economic systems, and how we can learn from them and follow international best practices?

[HerbChestnut]

1. That's a great point.

Bernie should bring that up at the next debate.

[UglyGreed]

2. Exactly!!! K/R

BTW welcome to DU

[Todays_Illusion]

3. The Republicans very deliberately created this problem, I believe there is one proper response for

each new killing. Democratic elected and Democratic candidates should remind the public, guns are a Republican issue, Republicans control both houses of Congress, nothing more.

[Bread and Circus]

4. I think you win DU today. Best thread yet for the day.

[Recursion]

5. Well, Australia doesn't have single payer, first off

And their decline in murders since the gun buyback was actually smaller than ours over the same period.

That said, it's a fair point. OTOH, I think a lot of us in the Left need to come to terms with the fact that we aren't a Canada or Australia; we're a Brazil or South Africa. Or at least we're between those two cohorts in a lot of ways.

[joshcryer]

6. It's a fair question I think but establishment Dems aren't gun grabbers.

The most "controversial" thing that they've called for is, shocker, more studies on gun related deaths (which would most likely show that 1) mentally ill people are largely behind it 2) poverty plays a huge role 3) the war on drugs is a massive contributor 4) the police need to be retrained).

Once you have the Congressionally mandated study then you have congressional action on the major contributors to gun violence.

And nobody gets their guns taken away, you just have a system in place for mentally ill people on the gun registry, and you retrain the police, and you end the war on drugs, and you help impoverished areas.

Guns still free to buy and easily accessible.

[UglyGreed]

7. Kick

[99Forever]

8. Exactly.