Why Bernie Sanders didn’t join the Senate Democrat gun control filibuster
One prominent U.S. Senator was not among the almost 40 politicians who spoke during Wednesday’s marathon filibuster for gun control action: Bernie Sanders.
Launched by Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the 15-hour talking filibuster featured a who’s who of powerful Senate Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
But Sanders, the independent Vermont senator, was back home in Burlington, Vermont, preparing to address his supporters in a video livestream on Thursday night. From afar, he posted his support for Murphy’s calls to action in a series of tweets.
I stand with @ChrisMurphyCT to demand common sense gun safety. We can’t allow guns to fall into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 15, 2016
What sense does it make for people to be able to purchase military-style weapons designed to kill people? #Enoughhttps://t.co/6bN3Y69Y2d
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 15, 2016
The weapon used in Orlando was legally purchased after a background check. Assault weapons like it should be outright banned.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 16, 2016
Still, Sanders’s absence from the floor was a focus of some limited criticism under the #WheresBernie hashtag on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/EricaSmegs/status/743304388211466240
His absence was notable given that Clinton explicitly targeted his record on gun control during the primary. Citing his early 1990s votes against the Brady Bill’s gun control legislation, Clinton said in an April debate that Sanders “has been largely a very reliable supporter of the NRA.”
But PolitiFact deemed that line “Mostly False,” noting that Sanders had also voted against other NRA-supported gun bills in more recent years and maintains a low rating from the NRA.
One major reason Sanders wasn’t present on the floor was the surprise nature of the filibuster.
“I decided to do this essentially that morning,” Murphy told CBS, “and over the course of the day, organically, almost every single Democratic senator decided to join me.”
For his part, Sanders is no slouch when it comes to filibusters. He famously spoke on the Senate floor for more than eight hours against tax cuts and trade deals in 2010, an event that, in retrospect, foreshadowed his presidential run.
The Vermont senator’s presidential run appears to have reached its end, as Hillary Clinton has the support of enough pledged delegates and superdelegates to clinch the Democratic nomination. But he has pledged to take his campaign through to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in late July.
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