1/14/2015
RIGHTS BATTLE: Gun control advocates are introducing a controversial bill that would require criminal background checks on gun purchases in the state of Vermont.
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By Bruce Parker | Vermont Watchdog
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Vermont’s Senate president pro tem says he is sponsoring a hot-button bill to require universal background checks on gun purchases.
The controversial legislation could be introduced as soon as Wednesday morning at the Vermont statehouse.
“We’re doing a review of a bill that involves not just background checks but also some other areas involving other parts of the law to make sure to bring it into parity with the federal law,” Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell told Vermont Watchdog on Monday.
The Windsor County Democrat, who began his third two-year term as president pro tem last week, said he decided to sponsor the bill to mediate between liberals who support gun control and conservatives who seek to defend gun rights explicitly guaranteed in both the state and federal constitutions.
“There are other people who were looking to introduce bills that were probably a little more, well, going a lot farther with their desire to deal with certain issues,” Campbell said.
“As somebody who likes to get all sides together when possible … it’s better to come from a point of view where you’re not dealing with the most liberal bill or the most conservative bill.”
However, Campbell said it might not be possible to get all sides together “because it’s a hot-button issue.”
Backed by Gun Sense Vermont, the bill is expected to mirror Washington state’s recently passed Initiative 594, which requires criminal background checks on all residents who buy guns or even share guns with others. The gun control group spent $39,000 on lobbyists last summer, outspending corporate giants Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, Altria and Green Mountain Power.
Ed Cutler, president of Gun Owners of Vermont, said gun and sportsmen’s groups are united in opposing the bill.
“What they’re trying to do in Vermont is the same thing they did in Washington. We and all the other pro-gun, pro-sportsmen’s groups in the state have already made a commitment to stand against anything they do,” Cutler told Vermont Watchdog.
Cutler said the bill is a solution in search of a problem since Vermont has few gun-related deaths and extremely low crime rates.
“According to the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms people, we have the lowest guns-for-drugs rate in the country — especially in New England. … FBI statistics just put us at No.1 as the safest state in the union, and our crime rate went down by 28 percent between 2012 to 2013. Which means not only is there not a problem, but there’s less of a problem than ever before,” Cutler said.
Cutler also said the legislation would be ineffective due to the fact that criminals typically do not buy firearms from licensed dealers and stores.
To educate lawmakers and the public on the issue, Gun Owners of Vermont on Tuesday released a 16-page report that cites ATF data, crime statistics and polls that argue background checks are neither effective nor necessary. In collaboration with the Vermont Citizens Defense League and Gun Sense Exposed, the group also released a companion explainer YouTube video.
Despite expected resistance, national and state gun-control leaders are coordinating to support universal background checks in Vermont.
Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety is urging people to “join the fight” by pledging to support background check legislation in Vermont.
Inside the state, a cabal of elected officials recently met with Gun Sense lobbyists and leaders at Shelburne Vineyard to toast the group’s agenda. Guests on hand included Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, state Sens. Virginia Lyons and David Zuckerman, filmmaker Orly Yadin and activist Lola Van Wagenen, the former wife of actor Robert Redford.
Vermont’s politically oriented churches are helping Gun Sense as well. All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in West Brattleboro hosted Gun Sense founder Ann Braden on Jan. 4 to speak about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Likewise, Charlotte Congregational Church announced the introduction of Campbell’s bill on its website. The church has instructed members to send a pre-written form letter urging lawmakers to “fix Vermont’s lax, outdated gun laws.”
According to the church’s site, Gun Sense hopes to “hand-deliver 1,000 personal letters on January 14th when the bill is introduced in the Senate.”
Scott Chapman, organizer of the Vermont Second Amendment Coalition, told Vermont Watchdog that numerous gun control bills expected for 2015 will unite outdoor-sports groups of all stripes against gun grabbers.
“You’re going to have to apply to the government for the privilege of exercising your rights instead of having the rights as they are granted to us now. You compound that with them introducing hunting legislation to change the way people traditionally hunt and trap and fish in Vermont, and now you have solidified a large group of people in this state,” Chapman said.
“Hunting, trapping, fishing and camping brings in more money than any other thing in the state of Vermont. That is the No. 1 cash dollar in Vermont. It’s bigger than ski areas. It’s a huge demographic of people they are going to confront.”
Rumored co-sponsors of the bill include Senate Majority Leader Philip Baruth, D-Chittenden, and Assistant Majority Leader Claire Ayer, D-Addison.
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