Of Arms and the Law

Navigation
About Me
Contact Me
Archives
XML Feed
Home


Law Review Articles
Firearm Owner's Protection Act
Armed Citizens, Citizen Armies
2nd Amendment & Historiography
The Lecture Notes of St. George Tucker
Original Popular Understanding of the 14th Amendment
Originalism and its Tools


2nd Amendment Discussions

1982 Senate Judiciary Comm. Report
2004 Dept of Justice Report
US v. Emerson (5th Cir. 2001)

Click here to join the NRA (or renew your membership) online! Special discount: annual membership $25 (reg. $35) for a great magazine and benefits.

Recommended Websites
Ammo.com, deals on ammunition
Scopesfield: rifle scope guide
Ohioans for Concealed Carry
Clean Up ATF (heartburn for headquarters)
Concealed Carry Today
Knives Infinity, blades of all types
Buckeye Firearms Association
NFA Owners' Association
Leatherman Multi-tools And Knives
The Nuge Board
Dave Kopel
Steve Halbrook
Gunblog community
Dave Hardy
Bardwell's NFA Page
2nd Amendment Documentary
Clayton Cramer
Constitutional Classics
Law Reviews
NRA news online
Sporting Outdoors blog
Blogroll
Instapundit
Upland Feathers
Instapunk
Volokh Conspiracy
Alphecca
Gun Rights
Gun Trust Lawyer NFA blog
The Big Bore Chronicles
Good for the Country
Knife Rights.org
Geeks with Guns
Hugh Hewitt
How Appealing
Moorewatch
Moorelies
The Price of Liberty
Search
Email Subscription
Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

 

Credits
Powered by Movable Type 6.8.7
Site Design by Sekimori

« Close the police loophole! | Main | Social Security moves to ban certain recipients from owning guns »

Bernie Sanders and the Second Amendment

Posted by David Hardy · 16 July 2015 02:13 PM

Sander's attitudes on gun control have the liberal/progressive commentators befuddled, or at least more befuddled than they generally are. The one explanation they can put up is that it's a posture to please his Vermont constituents. As the Christian Science Monitor puts it, "Why would a candidate who is staking his campaign on progressive reform be so soft on gun control? The simplest explanation, as my Middlebury colleague Bert Johnson argues, is that, like it or not, Bernie is representing the preferences of a good number of his Vermont constituents."

But that's a little hard to accept, given that when he was a youngster in 1972, and a leader of the Liberty Union Party, it adopted a very pro-gun plank.

"The party, while Sanders served on its executive committee, adopted a platform in 1972 that called for the "abolition of all laws which interfere with the Constitutional right of citizens to bear arms." This may suggest that Sanders's relatively permissive views on gun ownership, already the subject of much consternation among liberals, could be rooted in sincere principle--not simply in the practical realities of winning election in rural Vermont. While this position might irk the average Democrat, it could ultimately serve to broaden his appeal: Sanders has said he wants to forge a coalition that can "cross traditional liberal-conservative lines.""

I can see that. In fact, the true left (as opposed to liberal/progressive) opposition to gun control can be quite consistent. If you believe the present establishment is run by a corporate oligarchy, why would you want it to have a monopoly on arms? I have a friend, an attorney who's said that he is a socialist, and feels insulted to be called a liberal. He's thoroughly pro-2A, and loves to point out to liberals that when the wealthy elite call for disarming the working class, they always make sure to exempt private security guards, which are their own hired armies.

3 Comments | Leave a comment

rd | July 16, 2015 9:13 PM | Reply

Bernie may be that mythological being, the principled leftist politician?

I am waiting for the shoe to drop, where Senator Sanders is thrown out of the Democrat Presidential Primaries because he is a Socialist Party Member, not a Democrat Party Member.

Anonymous | July 17, 2015 7:23 AM | Reply

Al Gore had an A rating from the NRA when he was a senator from Tennessee. We all know what happened after he took up residence in the White house.

Anonymous | July 17, 2015 7:44 AM | Reply

Bernie Sanders voted for an "Assault Weapons" ban and more more background checks on gun buyers in 2013, as he boasts right on his webpage:

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-votes-for-background-checks-assault-weapons-ban

I'm sorry, is this guy supposed to be pro-gun?

Leave a comment