Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley leaped at the chance to ding Democratic presidential opponents Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton on gun control at Saturday night's Democratic debate in New Hampshire. "What we need on this issue is not more polls," O'Malley said. "We need more principles."
O'Malley then went after Sanders for voting against the Brady Bill, which mandated background checks on firearms purchasers, and said that Clinton "changes her positions on this every election year it seems like." His comments prompted Sanders to urge, "Let's calm down a little bit, Martin," and Clinton to demand, "Tell the truth here, Martin." O'Malley also drew some tut-tutting from the moderators for butting in out of turn.
Before O'Malley jumped in, Clinton had underscored that more guns were "not the appropriate response" to dealing with terrorism, and said gun control must be dealt with as its "own problem." Sanders called for common sense on the issue, asking: "Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns that are crazy or mentally unstable?"
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