Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said late Thursday that, despite the lack of legislative action following gun violence, he sees growing “consensus” that change is needed.
“I think there is a consensus for serious gun control, including among people who own guns. And I think that’s what we have to bring about,” Sanders told host Chris Hayes on MSNBC’s “All In” after a rampage in Oregon left 10 dead.
Democratic presidential candidate Sanders said that, like himself, President Obama is personally repulsed by congressional inaction.
“I know him well enough to know that this was very personal for him, that he is disgusted, he is angry, he is sick and tired, as we all are, of sending our condolences to the families of people who have been murdered in cold blood,” Sanders said.
“I don’t know that anybody knows what the magic solution is,” he added. “What we do know is that the current situation is not tenable. It is clearly not working.”
{mosads}Obama appeared visibly angry on Thursday while discussing the nation’s latest gun massacre in a press conference.
“This is a political choice that we make, to allow this to happen every few months in America,” Obama said. “We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction.”
“The president is right,” Sanders said. “Condolences are not enough. We’ve got to do something [and] stop shooting at each other.”
A gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., earlier Thursday, killing nine people and injuring seven. The alleged shooter, Chris Harper Mercer, 26, is now also deceased following a confrontation with responding police officers on the campus.
Sanders argued on Thursday that cooperation is necessary for moving beyond the bloodshed.
“What we need, Chris, as a nation is to get beyond all the shouting,” Sanders told Hayes. “You know, you got some people who want to ban every gun in America and some people believe nothing at all.”
“I think the vast majority of the American people, as the president indicated, including gun owners — I know that’s true here in Vermont — want sensible gun control legislation,” he added.