Bernie Sanders Supported Gun Company Immunity But Opposed It for Other Industries

[William769]

The day before then-Vermont Representative Bernie Sanders voted to grant the gun industry immunity from legal liability, he voted against doing the same for fast-food companies and opposed doing the same for half a dozen other industries during his time in the House, roll call records show.

On Oct. 20, 2005, Sanders voted against the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act, also known as the "cheeseburger bill," aimed at protecting McDonald's and other fast-food restaurant chains from lawsuits filed by plaintiffs who blamed the companies for causing obesity. The next day, he voted in favor of protecting gun manufacturers and sellers from lawsuits.

Hillary Clinton, the Vermont senator's chief opponent for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, has criticized the latter vote for months, pointing to it as a sign of Sanders' weakness on gun control, along with five votes against the Brady Bill.

With the Democratic primary heating up in its final weeks and President Barack Obama taking new executive actions on guns, Clinton and her campaign ratcheted up the pressure on Sanders this week, arguing that he yielded to the gun industry where she stood firm.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-01-10/bernie-sanders-supported-gun-company-immunity-but-opposed-it-for-other-industries

[still_one]

1. The question is, why should gun makers have special privileges over other industries?

[riversedge]

3. Answer--> They should not.

[still_one]

4. Yup

[TeddyR]

6. The gun industry doesn't have "special privileges"

This bill - passed with the support of 14 Democratic senators, including Harry Reid -- prevents frivolous lawsuits against the gun industry. I'm not aware of too many frivolous lawsuits against other industries.

Assuming this bill is repealed (and I haven't seen Democrats queuing up to offer a repeal) what impact do you expect such a repeal to have on gun violence?

[still_one]

7. Here is a Washington Post article which seems to disagree

A legal shield written by Congress to benefit the firearms industry is posing unexpected hurdles for parents in Newtown, Conn., and victims of other mass shootings, who want to use the courts to hold gun makers accountable and push them to adopt stricter safety standards.

The law, approved in 2005 after intense lobbying by the National Rifle Association, grants gun companies rare protection from the kind of liability suits that have targeted many other consumer product manufacturers.

It was introduced amid a wave of lawsuits brought by city governments, which argued that gun companies had created a “public nuisance” by encouraging the proliferation of weapons. Advocates for gun makers said such suits threatened to destroy the industry and imperil Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms.

But over the past eight years, the legal shield has increasingly been used to block a different stripe of legal action — suits brought by victims and their families alleging that gun makers had failed to equip their firearms with proper safeguards or that gun dealers sold weapons improperly.

Attorneys for victims of mass shootings, such as the massacre Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown and last summer’s rampage in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater, say they have been surprised by the legal constraints they would face in challenging the gun industry.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nra-backed-federal-limits-on-gun-lawsuits-frustrate-victims-their-attorneys/2013/01/31/a4f101da-69b3-11e2-95b3-272d604a10a3_story.html?hpid=z2

[Cha]

2. And, Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly endorsed Hillary for Madam POTUS.

Thank you, William.

[riversedge]

5. OP ED: Gabrielle Giffords: We can no longer wait for a Congress in the gun lobby’s grip to act

TWEET

OP ED: Gabrielle Giffords: We can no longer wait for a Congress in the gun lobby’s grip to act https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gabrielle-giffords-we-can-no-longer-wait-for-a-congress-in-the-gun-lobbys-grip-to-act/2016/01/07/8e815af6-b543-11e5-9388-466021d971de_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-e%3Ahomepage%2Fstory … @HillaryforNH #p2

[Thinkingabout]

8. Go figure, he only needed to protect one industry and in fact the bill was so

The bill was so complicated he will have to revisit it again. I dont expect a rapid decision.