--- title: Democratic Debate: Sanders, O'Malley Spar Over Gun Control description: The former Maryland governor strikes early and hard canonical: https://time.com/4156158/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-martin-omalley-gun-control/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-20T02:25:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:31:27.037Z article:section: Politics og:title: Dem Debate: Sanders, O'Malley Spar Over Gun Control og:description: The former Maryland governor strikes early and hard og:url: https://time.com/4156158/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-martin-omalley-gun-control/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dba3db3d235eb89/698876380a4a228f429c79ae/democratic-debate-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5326 og:image:height: 2996 og:image:alt: Dem 2016 Debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dem Debate: Sanders, O'Malley Spar Over Gun Control twitter:description: The former Maryland governor strikes early and hard twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dba3db3d235eb89/698876380a4a228f429c79ae/democratic-debate-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley Spar Over Gun Control > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 20, 2015 2:25 AM UTC  Bernie Sanders, left, Hillary Clinton, center, and Martin O’Malley take the stage for a Democratic presidential primary debate, Dec. 19, 2015, at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Bernie Sanders, left, Hillary Clinton, center, and Martin O’Malley take the stage for a Democratic presidential primary debate, Dec. 19, 2015, at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Jim Cole—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 20, 2015 2:25 AM UTC Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders fired back at former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley during Saturday’s Democratic debate over gun safety legislation. O’Malley said ISIS training videos encourage lone wolves to purchase assault weapons like those used in the massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., because of the flip-flopping in Washington that both of his colleagues on the stage represented. “We need common sense gun safety,” said O’Malley. [Read More: Democrats Clash in Final Debate of 2015](http://time.com/4155432/democratic-debate-third-data-breach/?xid=homepage) A visibly perturbed Sanders responded by first asking the moderators to better lead the conversation, and later by defending his own willingness to challenge gun lobbyists in his own state and in later in Washington. Sanders argued he lost his Congressional race in the late 1980s because of his willingness to take on “gun people.” “Please do not explain to me coming from a sate where Democratic governors and Republican governors have supported virstually no gun control,” Sanders snapped at O’Malley. “Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people or voting for instant background checks.” Earlier in the debate, former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton argued guns alone will not help Americans stay safe in the efforts to thwart ISIS terrorists. “Arming more people, to do what, I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism,” she said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4156158/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-martin-omalley-gun-control/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4156158/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-martin-omalley-gun-control/"},"headline":"Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley Spar Over Gun Control","datePublished":"2015-12-20T02:25:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:31:27.037Z","description":"The former Maryland governor strikes early and hard","url":"https://time.com/4156158/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-martin-omalley-gun-control/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","Terrorism","ISIS","Clinton","Guns","Bernie Sanders","Martin O'malley","Democratic debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dba3db3d235eb89/698876380a4a228f429c79ae/democratic-debate-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9dba3db3d235eb89/698876380a4a228f429c79ae/democratic-debate-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dem 2016 Debate","caption":"Dem 2016 Debate","creditText":"Jim Cole—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4156158/democratic-debate-bernie-sanders-martin-omalley-gun-control/","name":"Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley Spar Over Gun Control"}}]}] ```