Sanders, an economic populist and middle-class pugilist, doesn’t talk much about guns on the campaign trail. But his voting record paints the picture of a legislator who is both skeptical of gun control and invested in the interests of gun owners—and manufacturers. In 1993, then-Rep. Sanders voted against the Brady Act, which mandated federal background checks for gun purchasers and restricted felons’ access to firearms. As a senator, Sanders supported bills to allow firearms in checked bags on Amtrak trains and block funding to any foreign aid organization that registered or taxed Americans’ guns. Sanders is dubious that gun control could help prevent gun violence, telling one interviewer after Sandy Hook that “if you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don’t think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen.” (He has since endorsed some modest gun control measures.)
This is Sanders voting record on gun-control legislation offered without comment:
Voted YES on allowing firearms in checked baggage on Amtrak trains.
Congressional Summary:AMENDMENT PURPOSE: To ensure that law abiding Amtrak passengers are allowed to securely transport firearms in their checked baggage.
Voted YES on prohibiting foreign & UN aid that restricts US gun ownership.
Amendment SA 2774 to H.R. 2764, the Department of State's International Aid bill: To prohibit the use of funds by international organizations, agencies, and entities (including the United Nations) that require the registration of, or taxes guns owned by citizens of the United States.
Voted YES on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers.
A bill to prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief resulting from the misuse of their products by others. A YES vote would:
• Prohibit individuals from filing a qualified civil liability action
• Exempt lawsuits brought against individuals who knowingly transfer a firearm that will be used to commit a violent or drug-trafficking crime
• Exempt lawsuits against actions that result in death, physical injury or property damage due solely to a product defect
• Dismiss of all civil liability actions pending on the date of enactment
• Prohibit the manufacture, import, sale or delivery of armor piercing ammunition
Voted YES on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse.
Vote to pass a bill that would prohibit liability lawsuits from being brought against gun manufacturers and dealers based on the criminal misuse of firearms. The bill would also block these actions from being brought up against gun trade organizations and against ammunition makers and sellers. The measure would apply immediately to any pending cases. Several specific exceptions to the ban exist. This includes civil suits would be allowed against a maker or dealer who "knowingly and willfully violated" state or federal laws in the selling or marketing of a weapon. Design and manufacturing defect lawsuits are also permitted when weapons are "used as intended.
Voted NO on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1.
Vote to pass a bill requiring anyone who purchases a gun at a gun show to go through an instant background check which must be completed within 24 hours [instead of 72 hours].
Voted YES on banning high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets.
Congressional Summary:
• The term 'large capacity ammunition feeding device' means a magazine or similar device that has an overall capacity of more than 10 rounds of ammunition
• It shall be unlawful for a person to import, sell, manufacture, or possess a large capacity ammunition feeding device.
• Shall not apply to the possession of any large capacity ammunition feeding device otherwise lawfully possessed before 2013.
• Shall not apply to qualified or retired law enforcement officers.
Rated F by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record.
Sanders scores F by NRA on pro-gun rights policies
The following ratings are based on lifetime voting records on gun issues and the results of a questionnaire sent to all Congressional candidates; the NRA assigned a letter grade (with A+ being the highest and F being the lowest).
And even when voting for significant gun control measures, Sanders has tempered his support. In 2013, he voted for universal background checks and an assault weapons ban — the recent landmark gun legislation in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting – and expressed reservations about the impact.
“If you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don’t think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen,” he told Seven Days Vermont a month before the vote, adding that he was still on the fence about the assault weapons ban.
In his official statement following his vote for the legislation in April 2013, Sanders opened with a caveat: “Nobody believes that gun control by itself is going to end the horrors we have seen in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., Tucson, Ariz. and other American communities.”