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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Snow Creek is willfully misinformed and seems to be proud of it. The only “out of state” kids at Vermont Commons commute from across the lake. “Action without rationality” indeed. Why not research it before you spout it? Such a wasted opportunity to show the kids you are targeting how to get it right.
Chicago has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. Check out http://www.heyjackass.com and see how thats working out for that community.
Chicago has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. Check out http://www.heyjackass.com to see how that is working out for that community.
Bradd I know you know a AR-15 is not an automatic weapon it is a semi auto which means that only one bullet leaves the chamber when you pull the trigger. No real hunter would ever use a machine gun to hunt but plenty of experienced hunter would use a AR-15. They are straight shooting and light weight. They are no different than the hunting rifle I use every November. You can blame the gun all want I guess it is easier than holding people responsible for their deranged actions.
I know plenty of people that hunt with AR-15s. If you knew anything about guns you would know that ARs are semi auto and that means one pull of the trigger one bullet. So yes plenty of meat left as long as you know how to shoot. Practice makes perfect Bradd.
Way to go, kids! With you all the way.
@citizen
I never said anything about banning guns.
It doesn’t mean that we can’t put restrictions on the kind of guns people can own. Maybe I’m wrong and you want to go out and hunt Bambi with a machine gun. Not much meat left to feed your family.
Thommy boy the last 14 words of the amendment state that the peoples right to bear arms shall not be infringed. Your pic makes you look like a doctor so Im guessing you are smart enough to understand that those words in that document give the people the right to own firearms and the government can not infringe on that right. Seems pretty clear to me and millions of other Americans. I do agree that HIPAA should not stop the mentally ill from being put on a no buy list. In order to save the masses we have to expose the nut jobs even if it hurts someones feelings.
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government lest it come to dominate our lives and interests. Patrick Henry
An Avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. Thomas Paine
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty. Thomas Jefferson
“Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American… The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state government, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people” (Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788)
“Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American… The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state government, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people” (Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788)