New York Senator Begs Sanders To Be More Aggressive On Guns
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has ripped into presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders for “not responding” to the threat of gun violence.
According to the junior senator, Sanders has failed to connect with New York Democrats because of his stringent support for the Second Amendment — and “doesn’t have the sensitivity” to comprehend the ways in which gun violence has devastated New York families.
Appearing in a tearful interview with Politico‘s Glenn Thrush on the eve of New York’s Democratic presidential primary, Gillibrand added that she had proudly turned her back on previous pledges to uphold gun rights after engaging with victims of shootings within her constituency.
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Whilst serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Gillibrand’s Congressional District contained more NRA members than anywhere else in New York. She was elected on the premise that she would defend gun rights accordingly.
“I was somebody who was not as focused on this, as I should have been,” she told Trush on Monday’s Off Message podcast. “I came from a rural upstate district that just didn’t have a lot of gang violence and gun violence. But I promise you, the minute you sit down with a mother and a father who have lost their child because of a stray bullet because of gun violence, you’re going to do something about it.”
Yet since assuming office as New York’s junior senator in 2009, Gillibrand has gone on to stand against numerous congressional bids to expand gun rights — and campaigned tirelessly for tighter firearms restrictions within her home state.
New York has made considerable progress in working to eradicate gun violence. In recent years, state lawmakers have passed legislation designed to keep better tabs on gun owners, criminalize the use of high-capacity magazines, and introduced universal background checks on all gun sales.
According to Gillibrand, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is not “fully getting” just how far New York Democrats have come on the issue of gun control.
“What I think he’s missing is he’s not responding,” Gillibrand said Monday. “He doesn’t have the sensitivity he needs to the horror that is happening in these families.”
Until Sanders becomes “more aggressive” on gun control, Gillibrand added, his chances of connecting with New York voters on the issue will probably remain slim.
“I just don’t think he’s fully getting how horrible it is for these families,” she said. “You’ve got to be more aggressive. The only message I would say is until you want to just take this scourge on, from start to finish, you’re not fully appreciating why it’s crippling America.”
Despite his impressive winning streak, analysts are anticipating Sanders’ muddled stance on gun control will fall flat next to rival Hillary Clinton’s firm platform when New York Democrats go to the polls on Tuesday.
Party front-runner Clinton has campaigned tirelessly over the last two decades in order to close gun sales loopholes, and argues that gun manufacturers and retailers should be held accountable for mass shootings.
At present, pollsters at RealClearPolitics place Clinton with a 12.8 percent lead across the state. Clinton currently enjoys a comfortable lead over Sanders nationwide – having claimed 1,758 delegates to Sanders’ 1,076. A minimum of 2,383 delegates will be needed in order to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination this summer.
[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
