(Seven Days)
Four hours after a former city worker gunned down 12 people at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took to Twitter to call for gun control.
"The days of the NRA controlling Congress and writing our gun laws must end," he wrote, referring to the National Rifle Association. "Congress must listen to the American people and pass gun safety legislation. This sickening gun violence must stop."
In a statement to the New York Times, Sanders spokesperson Arianna Jones said he would "continue pushing for policy that reflects the urgency of this national crisis, including his three-decades-old support for an assault weapons ban."
Ready, Aim, Fire: A Timeline of Sanders' Stands on Gun Control
The response was classic Sanders. Central to his 2020 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is the notion that he has consistently supported the same policies — and opposed the same special interests — throughout his half century in public life.
But when it comes to gun rights, the senator from Vermont has been anything but consistent. During his first two decades in Congress, Sanders supported much of the NRA's legislative agenda. And according to many who witnessed his rise from political obscurity to the presidential debate stage, he owes his career to the very special interests he now denounces. Read more