I am loving the Democratic debates. Both candidates are talking about issues that I care about: health care, mandatory paid leave, paths to citizenship, eliminating federal profit on student-debt repayment. And I love how Bernie is pushing Hillary to the left… or just letting her reveal her true self, like Obama’s “evolution” on same sex marriage. Anyway – my point is that I like his ideas and his enthusiasm. But guns. Guns!

Guns are where Bernie and I disagree.

In Sunday’s debate, Hillary brought up 2005 legislation (which she voted against) that essentially shields gun manufacturers from liability except when the incident was caused by a manufacturing defect (for instance, if the gun misfires when no one is touching it). After all, Hillary pointed out, no other manufacturing industries have this type of special legal protection written into the law.

At the time, the gun manufacturers argued that they needed the protection from torts because they lacked the “deep pockets” of other industries. If that statement were ever true, it is not true now. The gun industry makes billions of dollars a year. And it profits off the deaths of innocent people and is never held accountable.

It is CRAZY to me how many people die every day because of guns in our country. Here’s a small sampling of news stories I’ve seen in the last week:

• Man fatally shoots himself in the face while attempting to take a selfie with a gun (March 3)
• 3-year old is killed by a gun outside his home. Officials would not say whether the wound was self-inflicted.
• Children under 14 in the United States are 10x more likely to be killed by “unintentional firearm death” than children in other developed countries. “The majority of children are shot by other children or by themselves.”
• Suicide prevention education proposed in Salt Lake City: testifier told panel that “her sister walked into a gun store, purchased a firearm, and took her own life.” A four-year study showed that 87% of gun deaths in Utah were suicides.

These stories are absolutely heartbreaking, but the NRA and gun manufacturers have hocus-pocused people into feeling sympathy for millionaires profiteering off of death.

Bernie’s position was that a liability shield was necessary to avoid “ending gun manufacturing in America. I don’t agree with that.”

The NRA tweeted out Bernie’s comment, saying that Bernie “was spot-on in his comments about gun manufacturer liability.”

I respectfully disagree.

“If you join us right now, together we can turn the tide.” – Hamilton