I had been disappointed the previous night with how Chris Hayes had led Bernie into the soft-on-guns frame, but got no such impression from this interview, and Bernie seemed much more prepared to discuss the issue.
Personally I like his stance on guns. I am somewhat conflicted on the issue. I despise guns personally, but lean towards giving individuals as much personal freedom as reasonably possible rather than controlling everyone's behavior. Background checks and closing loopholes seem like good places we should be able to reach agreement and pass legislation, also banning assault weapons and limiting the quantity of guns or ammo seems reasonable.
My overall take on the issue is that many of these killers are people who need more love and support in their lives, they are often isolated and don't fit in. Our society has become far more socialized than it used to be, and it's harder on the outliers. We've done nothing on the positive engagement side of reaching out to such people before they become violent, instead we wait until they show signs of acting on their inner frustrations, then we reach out in largely humiliating and punitive ways to remove the blight on our society, when many of these people could have been helped at an earlier stage if we bothered to care about those who didn't really fit in.
Some of this involves mental illness, but a lot of it is just people who for whatever reason things didn't work out well for them. Most such people just live in quiet despair, but a certain percentage of them turn their despair outward in hate. In a society with so much joy and opportunity for a lot of people, there is far too much despair for a significant number of people, far too little compassion for their fate, and virtually no positive outreach to such people.
I see a gun grab as mostly another brick in the wall to such people, more likely to escalate than to prevent mass killings. Let's work on demilitarizing our culture in general, legalize herb to help chill us out, frown upon rather than glorify conquest and warfare, and learn how to help each other a little more. A strong safety net would also help a lot, so people could feel like they'll be ok when times are hard. As things chill out and the culture changes, it will be easier to reduce the presence of guns in society.
Re TPP, Bernie has this issue well rehearsed and he's been consistent on it forever, it is from his heart and it aligns with the interests of workers, Bernie at his best, corporate Democrats and Republicans at their worst.
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