Mother of mass shooting victim says Bernie Sanders lacks 'compassion'

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

published 19 April 2016

The mother of a young woman killed during the mass shooting in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater in 2012 says she is "astounded at the lack of compassion" Bernie Sanders shows to "survivors of gun violence."

In a Twitter message on Monday, Sandy Phillips said she watched the Democratic debate on Thursday, and "listened as Bernie laughed about gun violence in America." Phillips was referring to a moment in the debate after Hillary Clinton discussed firearms making their way from Vermont to New York. Sanders began to laugh, and Clinton quickly admonished him, saying, "This is not a laughing matter."

Phillips, whose daughter, Jessica Redfield Ghawi, 24, was killed with 11 other moviegoers, said the exchange made her cry. "My tears were for each of the thousands of families that live with the pain that gun violence leaves in the wake of bullets that target over 33,000 Americans every day," she wrote, later adding, "I cried for the country we once had. And I cried because of the spineless leadership in our current Senate, of which Bernie is part. I cried as Bernie laughed." Phillips said Sanders has been invited to "meet with us face to face numerous times," and she would like him to explain why he condemns big business but gives "a pass to a $36 BILLION dollar industry whose only purpose is to sell more lethal weapons." Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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