Thread by @politicalgeneve

@BernieSanders When Sen. Sanders successfully ran for the House in 1990, he got the tacit endorsement of the NRA after pledging not to support the Brady Bill, which included waiting periods to receive weapons.

@BernieSanders Once in the House, he kept his word, voting against the legislation five times. Sanders said he opposed the legislation because it did not have instant background checks. He repeatedly noted that Vermont is a state without gun regulation.

@BernieSanders In 1991, an editorial in the Rutland Herald said his opposition to the Brady Bill was part of an “opportunistic streak.”

@BernieSanders In 1991, an editorial in the Times Argus said Sanders was “dead wrong in writing off the measure as useless.”

@BernieSanders In 1991, and editorial in the Burlington Free Press said Sanders was offering “limp excuses” to the Brady Bill.

@BernieSanders In 1991, a headline in the Vermont Times read: “Who’s Afraid of the NRA? Vermont’s Congressmen, That’s Who.”

@BernieSanders Despite opposing the Brady Bill, Sanders voted for the “default proceed” amendment that allowed a gun to be purchased if a background check did not return a result in one business day. The final Brady Bill included a 3-day time limit for a background check.

@BernieSanders The “default proceed” loophole was the loophole that allowed Dylan Roof to purchase his gun before he killed people in Charleston, South Carolina.

@BernieSanders Sen. Sanders stated that the Brady gun law would not prevent crime. In 1991, Sanders criticized supporters of the Brady Bill who argued that it would deal with the problem of gun violence. “To my mind, that’s just not honest.”

@BernieSanders Although he voted against the bill, he voted for an amendment that created the so-called “Charleston loophole,” which allows people to purchase a weapon after three days even if their background check is incomplete.

@BernieSanders Later, Sanders, despite wanting to hold essentially every corporation accountable for something (such as fast food companies accountable for obesity), voted to protect gun manufacturers from legal liability.

@BernieSanders He also voted to strip millions from gun research, something the NRA has wanted to prevent officials from learning about gun violence.

@BernieSanders In 2003 and 2005, Sanders voted to shield gun manufacturers from legal liability (PLCAA). It became law in 2005 and was the NRA’s top legislative priority that year. When the PLCAA became law, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre called it “an historic victory.”

@BernieSanders Sanders opposed efforts to restore funding for the CDC to conduct gun research. In 1996, he voted against restoring $2.6 million for that purpose, which was removed by an amendment by Jay Dickey, who called the research “federally funded political advocacy.”

@BernieSanders In 2012, Dickey would say he “served as the NRA’s point person in Congress and submitted an amendment to an appropriations bill that removed $2.6 million from the CDC’s budget, the amount the agency’s injury center had spent on firearms-related research the previous year.”

@BernieSanders The Dickey amendment led to a “near death experience” for scientific research for guns, and was the beginning of the NRA’s push to make sure “no current scientific consensus about guns and violence.”

@BernieSanders Jay Dickey later said he regretted his amendment.

@BernieSanders Sanders has repeatedly said gun regulation should be done at the state and local level.

In 1988, Sanders said, “in Vermont it is not my view that the present law needs any changing.”

In 2006, Sanders said gun regulation “shouldn’t be done in Washington.”

@BernieSanders In 2012, Sanders said the “decisions about gun control should be made as close to home as possible.”

@BernieSanders Sanders has also said that gun violence is an “urban vs. rural” problem.

@BernieSanders In 1980, a Sanders newspaper ad said, “In New York City, in Boston or in Los Angeles the crime problem may well be out of hand because of the enormous social chaos in those areas….”

@BernieSanders In 1991, a Sanders spokesman said, “The situation in Vermont is very different than in some urban areas – we have far more murders from knives than we do from guns.”

@BernieSanders In 2015, Sanders said, “I understand that guns in my state are different than guns in Chicago or Los Angeles.”

@BernieSanders In 2015, Sanders said, “In Vermont, in other very rural states, what guns are about is hunting, guns are about target shooting, a lot of antique gun collectors and in fact we have a pretty low, thank god, crime rate here in the state of Vermont….”

@BernieSanders “…But obviously in the rest of the country, whether it’s Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York City, whatever, guns are associated with drug dealers and killers and everything else. So looking at it in national perspective is different than looking at it in Vermont perspective.”

@BernieSanders Sanders has repeatedly said that gun regulation is not effective.

@BernieSanders In 2013, after the Sandy Hook tragedy, Sanders said, “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.”

@BernieSanders In 1990, Sanders said, “people pull the trigger, not the guns themselves.”

@BernieSanders In 1991, Sanders said, “Anyone who has any illusions that gun control will cause a significant dent in the very serious problem of crime is mistaken.”