Updated at 1:26 p.m.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took to the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday morning to call for gun control legislation, but in doing so he understated the number of gun deaths in Vermont by an order of magnitude.
“In my small state of Vermont, between 2011 and 2016, 42 people were killed by guns,” Sanders said in his remarks.
That’s the same window of time Vermont Public Radio focused on last year in a series documenting gun deaths in Vermont, but Sanders’ figure was way off. VPR’s reporting, which was based on data provided by the Vermont Department of Health, found that 420 people were killed by guns between 2011 and 2016.
In his remarks on the Senate floor, Sanders did not cite a source for the number he used. It was also included in a press release his office issued Wednesday morning.
Later, Sanders spokesman Dan McLean said that the senator had intended to describe gun homicides during that six-year period. Citing the VPR report, McLean noted that 47 Vermonters were killed by someone else in those years and that five of those incidents involved law enforcement, “making 42 the most accurate number we had.”
According to VPR, another 373 people killed themselves using guns.
In his remarks, Sanders named 10 people killed by guns in Vermont in recent high-profile cases, including four killed by Jody Herring in 2015. He also called for mandatory universal background checks, which would close the so-called “gun show loophole,” and for an assault weapons ban.
Earlier this year, Sanders fumbled numbers related to a mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Writing on Twitter on February 14, he claimed there had already been 18 school shootings in 2018. He later issued a correction, noting that the number was “incorrect and inflated.”
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looking forward to voting for Bernie in 2020.
Sevendays perfectly illustrates (apparently inadvertently, given the headline) Vermont gun owners’ frustration over the current feeding frenzy against our gun rights.
Empirical data: in a recent 5 year period 89% of gun homicides in VT were suicides. The 10% of deaths representing homicides (the other 1% are police related) included no school shootings, no use of bump stocks, and only one “mass shooting”. That incident involved a bolt action deer hunting rifle. The recent alleged close call in Fair Haven featured a shotgun with non-detachablel magazine. It was foiled not through laws but by the courageous decision by someone with knowledge to take personal responsibility for their safety and alert authorities.
Conclusion & Action Plan (per Gov. Scott, Sen.s Sanders, Leahy, Rep. Welch, and student organizers):
-ban bump stocks
-ban “assault weapons” (sic)
-ban detachable “high capacity” magazines
-demote 18, 19, and 20 year old adults back to the legal status of minors
-bypass Due Process through empowering the Executive branch to seize guns that are unrelated to any alleged criminal wrong-doing
-demonize VT NRA members for their “complicity” in mass murders and for daring to question the need for “common sense gun reform”
Reasonable, common sensical, and evidence-based? Absolutely, but only in a world where black is white and up is down! Apparently Washington D.C. and Montpelier are among those places…
Roy a doddering old fool flubbed some numbers is exactly why this is a story. If Bernie cant get the number of people killed in his own state correct how can we trust him to get anything else correct. He is to old to lead. He is so old and forgetful that he cant even campaign in his own state. That is why he spends all of his time in California or Iowa. He forgot he represents the people of Vermont. He thinks Vermonters are just there to pick up the campaign bill. Instead of fighting the 1% Bernie only thinks of how he can become a 1%er.
#timetovotethebaldguysout
Bernie’s ol’ buddy, the recently deceased Peter Diamondstone, said ‘Bernie’s gift was ‘cunning’. Yep, the only thing good old ‘Mr. Authentic has going for him is cunning.
That is what we need in Washington; the cunning.
The nation is saved!!
I am certainly no fan of Bernie Sanders but seriously, why is this even a story? A doddering old fool flubbed some numbers. Its not really worthy of a news story.
God didn’t give us the amendments rights men did .Just saying .
Sounds like you are bitter that he’s doing so well. There are 100 more things you could be bitching about besides Bernie’s quoted stats.
“OMG! Bernie misquoted numbers…twice!”
Ole Socialist Sanders never can get anything right. He has crap for brains and what little he has, he’s thinking of other things like citizen said, all sanders is thinking about ,is wifey pooh going to take him down too?. Plus he is counting his money that he’s making by going to other states to campaign for other democrats.Yup more interested in making money instead of listening to Vermonters.He needs to leave Vermont. Go live in California.!!!
You cant blame Bernie for getting the numbers wrong. How is a old fart like him supposed to keep it all straight he has to much to think about like- is my crook wife going to jail.
– is she going to take me down with her.
– how much more can I steal from the good people of Vermont.
You know stuff like that is far more important than actual numbers and facts when it comes to peoples god given 2nd amendment rights.
#timetovotethebaldguysout
“..42 people were killed by guns, Sanders said…” “47 Vermonters were killed by someone else in those years and that five of those incidents involved law enforcement, making 42 the most accurate number we had.
“data provided by the Vermont Department of Health, found that 420 people were killed by guns”
According to VPR, another 373 people killed themselves using guns…
The math works out, so where is the beef?
You goin’ to legislate against suicide by gun?? IT is already a capitol offense to kill oneself, so using a gun to do it doesn’t matter.
Guns are going to always be around. Keeping people happy might be a better use of time.