A group of young Vermonters and gun control activists gathered at the Vermont Statehouse Tuesday morning to call on lawmakers to pass several proposed gun-control bills.
The demonstration came in reaction to a school shooting in Florida last week and an incident in Fair Haven in which authorities stopped a would-be school shooter before any violence took place.
“Fix this before my kid is texting me from under a desk,” read a sign held by a demonstrator standing in a light rain on the Statehouse steps.
The demonstration was organized by GunSense Vermont, but the presence of students from the Vermont Commons School brought the message home. The students called on lawmakers to pass new gun laws before more shootings take place.
In a slow, quiet procession, the students wove through the halls of the Statehouse bearing signs that read “protect kids not guns” and “right to own a gun or surviving school.”
Demonstrators said they were hoping to make gun control an unavoidable topic in the Statehouse. Three gun control bills are currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee. One would mandate background checks for all gun sales. Another would allow police to confiscate weapons when they make an arrest for domestic violence. A third bill would create a court process allowing police to confiscate guns from those ruled to be an “extreme risk.”
The universal background check bill has been stuck in the committee since last year and hasn’t moved because three of the panel’s five members oppose it. (A 2015 attempt to mandate background checks was also thwarted by a 3-2 vote in the same committee.) The current bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden), said last week that the Senate should be ashamed for doing “jack shit” about gun violence.
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger attended the Tuesday morning rally in Montpelier and said student involvement at the event gave him hope that the years-long political deadlock around gun control would come to an end.
“It is very hopeful to be standing with so many of you this morning,” Weinberger said to a crowd in front of the Statehouse, “and particularly to be standing with our kids and children who have been so eloquent on this issue. That, I hope, is what will finally change this terrible dynamic and lead to action.”
Weinberger joined other advocates in calling for statewide, mandatory universal background checks, as he has since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012.
“The rest of the world simply does not tolerate this kind of massacre of its children,” Weinberger said. “The United States and the state of Vermont should not either.”
But if lawmakers don’t pass any statewide measures, Weinberger said it’s unacceptable to block local gun control. Burlington voters in 2014 approved a measure banning guns in bars, requiring residents to lock them up when not in use and allowing cops to confiscate them from those accused of domestic violence. The legislature has so far refused to approve the necessary changes to the city’s charter, blocking enactment of the proposed policies.
“If Montpelier can’t or won’t get the job done, at the very least this Statehouse should allow cities and towns that want to move forward on their own to protect our children, our domestic violence victims and our police officers,” the mayor said. “We should be allowed to take responsibility and do that as our own communities.”
Weinberger says a statewide policy would make more sense, but he’s already hedging his bets.
“I have begun conversations about whether we could bring [the charter changes] back this year,” he said in an interview with Seven Days Monday. “I do plan to spend some time on this.”
John Walters contributed reporting.
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@Citizen,
All the gun control in the world will never solve the mental illness problem that is destroying this country.
I guess there is a lot less mental illness in other countries.
6 decades ago they drilled students to hide under desks in case of nuclear attack. Today we terrorize school children by drilling them to hide under desks and in closets in the pretense this will save them if they’re faced with a spray of bullets from military assault rifles?
If you think gun rights are more important than our children’s right to grow up in peace and safety, you are my enemy. I will never vote for a NRA-supported pro-slaughter republican ever again. The majority of people under 40 will never vote for a republican in their lifetimes. There is nothing unreasonable about banning assault weapons and requiring background checks, age limits, and not permitting mentally ill people access to guns.
Well if they worry about children being killed they need to stop abortions.
@Burlington Political Observer When’s the last time you heard of a private school for the wealthy getting shot up? Smarten up kid. Those kids have no fears of that happening to them. If they do, it’s because of the liberal/progressive agenda being washed into their tender young minds. Where critical thinking is sadly lacking. It’s class warfare those Bloomberg bunnies are perpetuating. They hate our peaceful way of life. They need to disarm us in order to control us.
Public notice has changed too. This kind of one sided, biased misinformation that can reach across the country in seconds is not what was intended with the 1st amendment. The founders never could have foreseen the incredible damage such propaganda can do to so many people. Especially the indoctrinated & hysterical. We need to do something about this. People need to be held accountable for what they say in the public domain.
All the gun control in the world will never solve the mental illness problem that is destroying this country. Guns dont kill people, people kill people with guns, trucks, bombs, ropes, and even their bear hands. So if you want to stop killing good luck. If you want to keep kids safe at schools come up with better security plans. Why is it that we spend millions to have armed guards watching over prisoners but we cant have armed guards watching over the countries most valuable assets our kids. One good guy with a gun at the right place at the right time can do more to stop evil than all the laws in the world. Criminals are going to get guns no matter what so how does preventing law abiding citizens from having guns save anyone? Treat mental illness if you want a safer planet but leave my guns alone.
What kind of despicable, lecherous, cancer of a human being would called kids who don’t want to get shot up in there school “brainwashed” or “bloomberg bunnies.”
These kids are courageous and I certainly hope this isn’t their last work in political activism.
More out of state interests. And isn’t it just like gunsensevt to use yet another tragedy to push their anti-American agenda. And as usual, the same cast of characters spouting the same nonsense. Just another bunch of brainwashed kids being led by Bloomberg bunnies trying to force us to become what they believe we should be. They don’t seem to teach critical thinking at that liberal/progressive den of socialistic values.
You’re not alone, students. Parents across the state are with you and talking with their reps.
Private school largely filled with out of state kids and leftwing activist group founded by an out of state transplant protest in State Capitol….
that should be the headline
we have an elitist from CT forming a protest with an elitist private school
And they are holding inaccurate signs as the AR 15 has been available to the public since the 60’s
Gun violence has also been going DOWN over the decades
this is similar to what happens after a shark attack- people freak out and look to kill all sharks.
while they pay no attention to fido sitting next to them- the deadliest animal in America and the most likely to kill and or injure you…
thats what is going on here. People are freaking out over long guns when the real driver of violence and homicides is caused by….Pistols…. And most of the mass shootings occur in inner cities amongst minorities.
Somehow though people just dont want to care about that…
the herd will do what the herd has always done- whatever they are told
this is a perfect example of action without rationality