Bernie Sanders Supports Gun Registration, but Not the Ban of AR-15 Rifles

[George II]

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a29264014/bernie-sanders-gun-registration-ban-ar15/

Bernie Sanders Supports Gun Registration, but Not the Ban of AR-15 Rifles

His take on gun reform differs from other Democratic candidates for president.

by ALEXANDRA WHITTAKER SEP 27, 2019

AR-15 semi-automatic rifles have played a prominent role in many mass shootings over the last decade, spurring calls for their ban. They’ve been frequently mentioned during political discussions about gun reform, especially after Beto O’Rourke’s passionate comments during the last Democratic primary debate.

“We’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore,” O’Rourke said.

Bernie Sanders, however, does not share that point of view, and he said as much during a visit to Cosmopolitan’s offices this week. “I would support the registration,” Sanders told Cosmo. “A strong registration gun policy.”

A recent Cosmopolitan poll shows that our audience supports removing AR-15s from people who already have them. With that in mind, Cosmopolitan’s editor Jessica Pels asked why Sanders doesn’t support full removal like some of the other Democratic candidates running for office, and he said he found other alternatives more effective.

“Yeah, I think it sets a precedent of forcing somebody to give up something that they own. You believe in that and somebody else believes in something else. But I think what we can do, way back when Ronald Reagan was president, before that, you could own a machine gun, which is even worse than an assault weapon, you know that really mows down people. And we passed laws for very strong registration, which basically eliminated the private ownership of machine guns. You could not go out and buy a machine gun. I think that’s exactly the direction we should go in terms of assault weapons.”

This stance may surprise some of his fans, but it’s not out of left field. Sanders’ takes on gun reform have raised eyebrows before, even to the point where NBC News called his voting record on gun-related measures a “particular obstacle for energized young voters.”
It’s not yet clear whether that’s true.

[NurseJackie]

1. Disqualifying.

And I mean it, too!

[jcgoldie]

2. For me too

Bernie was already low on my list because I didn't like how he handled the the 2016 campaign from about June on... but his record on guns is not a strength in our Democratic field. And I would not choose any of them over the others who are afraid to say they support an assault weapons ban.

[BlueMTexpat]

4. + a million or so! eom

[Voltaire2]

5. it's bullshit

Like just about every other candidate, Sanders supports a ban in assault weapons and large capacity magazines. He is not joining O'Rourke in calling for confiscation, but neither is Warren or Biden. As far as I know, they both, like Sanders, want a new assault weapons ban.

[jcgoldie]

8. NRA gives him a D-

All the other candidates rate F. He voted against the Brady bill for fucks sake. He voted to shield gun manufacturers from lawsuits. And he said this as recently as 2013: “If you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don’t think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen.”

[DrToast]

9. You may not like his stance overall

But you shouldn’t excuse people for stating falsehoods about it.

You wouldn’t be happy with people making up shit about your preferred candidate.

[efhmc]

24. For this and for antifeminist reasons, i am antiBernie.

These feelings go way back and will never change.

[Voltaire2]

3. Sanders supports a new assault weapons ban.

But I'm sure you already knew that.

To what extent does Bernie believe that gun regulation should be a federal issue?

Bernie has voted in favor of a nationwide ban on military-style assault weapons, a nationwide ban on high-capacity magazines of over ten rounds, and nationwide expanded background checks that address unsafe loopholes.

https://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-gun-policy/

[DrToast]

7. Basically, Cosmopolitan conflated not supporting mandatory buybacks with not supporting a ban

They blew it. They should issue a correction.

[Hortensis]

13. The AR-15 is, obviously, an assault rifle but not military grade.

It's relatively cheap, lightweight for adolescents who haven't bulked up in manhood, semi-auto, and has lots of really cool accessories. Those are probably why it's not only useful for killing up to the limit of deer at one time but also for hunting groups of grade schoolers and churchgoers.

The argument is that it's a popular game hunting weapon, not to be classed with others that might be banned.

?sw=300&sh=300

[yaesu]

17. which is the only ban that would have a chance of being implemented. Basically the same ban

we had in the 90's and was effective. Banning and confiscation will never fly and would just drive voters to tRump.

[BlueMississippi]

21. So when it comes to guns, Sanders wants legislation that has a chance to be implemented

but not with his trillions of dollar plans which he sloganizes; none of which have an iota of chance of being implemented.

Isn't that a double standard?

[TidalWave46]

23. Pragmatism is not something Sanders puts forward in policy.

It should not be used to explain his policies.

[George II]

27. That's from David Sirota's "newsletter". That's NOT Sanders speaking.

[Me.]

6. WHAT?

[ritapria]

10. The Story is Bullshit

Bernie supports a federal ban on the sale of Assault Weapons ...He has said that on the campaign trail over and over again

[yaesu]

18. yep, just another false hit piece from the corporatist. nt

[George II]

28. Who is "the corporatist"?

[ritapria]

11. You wonder why anyone wuld run for Office ?

When you have people writing this lying horseshit against them …….It's not just against Bernie , they do this all the time

[PhoenixDem]

16. A ban by itself does nothing to the installed base of assault weapons

A voluntary buyback is a better solution in the absence of outright confiscation.

[lunamagica]

12. WHAT???

[aikoaiko]

14. Of course, Bernie is correct. Gun confiscation is wrong, but NFA registration would work.

After requiring NFA registration in 1934, homicides with legally owned machine guns dropped to near zero rates.

The only thing Bernie got wrong was that people could continue to buy machine guns until 1986 if they passed the NFA background check and registered the firearm.

Bernie would support the violence reducing NFA registration coupled with not being able to buy new ones (which was what most prior Assault Weapon Ban legislation proposed).

[PhoenixDem]

19. Why is gun confiscation "wrong"?

If one had hand-grenade, it will be confiscated immediately. A hand-grenade kills far fewer people on average than an AR-15 can - as shown in Las Vegas. The only difference is that a grenade doesn't have a barrel and a trigger?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

30. A small list

US Constitution Section 9: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
US Constitution Section 10: No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

You're not deciding to stop their sales. You're not planning on making the manufacturing of them illegal. You want to confiscate non-consumable physical property that was legally obtained by millions of Americans. These are items costing hundreds to thousands of dollars. Some would argue that this amounts to an ex post facto Law.

US Constitution Amendment V: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Hand grenades may be owned legally. Those permanently disarmed are unrestricted. Those fully functional require an expensive process to be acquired legally but are still legal to own.

[George II]

34. Is money considered "private property"?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

47. According to recent practice and case law...

...I guess not.

Why do you ask?

[George II]

48. I never heard of these people before, but they disagree:

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/private-property.html

private property

Tangible and intangible things owned by individuals or firms over which their owners have exclusive and absolute legal rights, such as land, buildings, money, copyrights, patents, etc. Private property can be transferred only with its owner's consent, and by due process such as sale or gift.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

56. They seem like idealists

And, if things were ideal, there would be no income tax, but...
And, after working for 50+ years, my social security would be more than a few thousand a month.

[aikoaiko]

37. If the hand-grenade were unlawfully possessed it would be confiscated.

But they would not be if legally possessed.

That's the point that Bernie is making. These firearms that Beto wants to confiscated are currently legal to own even under the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban (under different accessory configurations).

It's wrong to take things away from people who have not done anything to be prohibited from their possession.

BTW: I think Joe Biden agrees with Bernie about confiscation.

[DrToast]

41. Nobody is proposing gun confiscation

Mandatory buybacks are perfectly constitutional.

[aikoaiko]

44. I think your claim on the constitutionality of forced buybacks is untested.

Last edited Sun Sep 29, 2019, 06:10 PM - Edit history (1)

And, functionally, I see no difference between confiscation and mandatory buybacks. Both require being forced to turn in your firearms under penalty of law.

[PhoenixDem]

15. The NRA candidate - enough said. n/t

[thesquanderer]

29. The facts say otherwise...

See

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jan/20/bernie-sanders/bernie-sanders-nra-report-card-d-minus-most-recent/

[PhoenixDem]

35. lol

NRA riggs the report cards for the party their supporters are in.

[thesquanderer]

46. Party may be a factor, but there are Dems who can A or B, and Repubs who get D or F

You can see ratings at
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UK4VjlTo6OAA53u8pKv-CDFyQcvC0dAf38e6FXEsCtY/edit#gid=1717204136

[NYMinute]

20. Utterly disqualifying

Wait till the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas students start speaking out about this.

I'm sure many of them read cosmo.

[NurseJackie]

31. Will he receive the same contempt and venom that Nancy Pelosi did?

[PhoenixDem]

36. Not here anyway.

No divine and sacred incarnations are treated with venom in this virtual edifice full of chanting devotees.

[NurseJackie]

38. That was lyrical.

You have a way with words.

[corbettkroehler]

22. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Ban Doesn't Equal Confiscation

I was thrilled that Bernie had accepted the interview with Cosmo until I saw this thread.

George II, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I will presuppose that you weren't familiar with the fact that Bernie has supported an assault weapons ban since HE WAS MAYOR OF BURLINGTON (link from Washington Post).

The question today is, since Dubya allowed the assault weapons ban to sunset, what do we do now? Bernie still supports the ban on assault weapons and I can prove it. Once you have read the tweet below, ask yourself, does the government have the right to confiscate ALL AR-15s, including from people who bought them legally and never used them for ill?

I think that AR-15s NEVER should have been made available for civilian purchase. However, Bush, Cheney and Rove didn't consult me. I feel where Beto's heart is but Bernie wants an approach which will save lives AND respect the hard earned dollars which peaceful owners of AR-15s spent purchasing their weapons.

The registry mentioned in Sanders' interview in Cosmo is how we move toward buy-backs, an approach to removing AR-15s from our cities and towns in an equitable manner.

Link to tweet

[KPN]

25. Bull shit story. Even in the interview he said essentially that he supports a law that would

prohibit the sale of assault weapons. What, does Cosmopolitan think most of their readers are stupid? They actually thought that readers would buy their biased take, their lie about Bernie? Whose next on their hit list? Elizabeth?

[oasis]

26. Surely Beto will take that up with Bernie in the next debate.

[redstatebluegirl]

32. He was already last on my list.

This puts him in the basement.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

33. Does he mean make them subject to the NFA? (national firearms act passed in the 1930s)

The same way machine guns are dealt with.

[aikoaiko]

39. I think so. It worked for machine gun violence.

[Eric J in MN]

40. Bernie would ban the sale of assault weapons.

He doesn’t support mandatory buybacks.

Nor does Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren.

[mcar]

42. That doesn't make sense at all

But none of Sanders' gun policies do, IMO.

[SidDithers]

43. He also voted against the Brady Bill 5 times...

and said "guns in Vermont are not the same thing as guns in Chicago or guns in Los Angeles."

Sid

[George II]

45. And two amendments to the Brady Bill, too.

[Cha]

51. Thanks, George.. :(

[Gothmog]

49. Who is surprised by this?

[whopis01]

55. Everyone who knows it isn't true

Sanders supports banning assault rifles. He has for many years.

He does not support mandatory buy backs. The Rticle conflated these two concepts.

[betsuni]

50. K&R

[DrToast]

52. Why is this post still up when it's so easily proven false

Jeez...I’m not even a Bernie fan, but this is ridiculous.

[Blue_true]

53. I am for background checks that include a person's criminal and mental health records as part of the

background check. I would add in mental health records of a person's parents. I would also want to see gun owners licensed for each gun owned and required by law to maintain security of the guns. The requirements would cover ALL gun ownership transfers and guns already owned. After that, I honestly would not care what type of gun a person wants to own, that is none of my business if they use them responsibly.

The problem that I have with many gun owners, particularly here in Florida is that they are idiots. They put decals on their vehicles advertising that the vehicle likely has a gun in it. Unless the gun can guard the unoccupied vehicle, all those idiots are saying is "steal my gun, but please leave my vehicle", (sort of a variant of "leave the gun, bring the cannolis&quot .

[Polybius]

54. Smart answer

Beto committed political suicide with his confiscation answer.

[NastyRiffraff]

57. If I hadn't already disqualified him

that alone would do it.

There is NO justification for owning a type of weapon made strictly for the battlefield. The terrible wounds of those who were mowed down by a crazed asshole with an AR-15 should be the end of private ownership of those weapons of war.