|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Michael Bielawski
A Vermonter has been found guilty of violating the state’s 2017 ban on high-capacity firearms magazines.
It was a one-day trial on Monday, April 28, in Vermont Superior Court, Bennington Criminal Division, where a jury found Max Misch, 42, of Bennington, guilty of two counts of misdemeanor possession of “large capacity ammunition feeding devices.”
Misch first came into the public eye for leaving critical and racist comments on social media to and about Rep. Kiah Morris (D-Bennington), a black woman married to a white man.
“The case against Mr. Misch was brought by the Attorney General’s Office in February 2019 as the result of a criminal investigation conducted by the Vermont State Police with the assistance of the Bennington Police Department,” the report states.
“I want to thank the jury for their service in carefully considering the law and facts in this case,” said Attorney General Charity Clark. “I also want to thank our law enforcement partners for their assistance with the investigation, whose work was instrumental in bringing this case to a successful resolution.”
The presiding Judge Jennifer Barrett ordered Misch to remain released on conditions pending sentencing. The charge is a misdemeanor that can result in up to a $500 fine and/or one year in prison. There will be sentencing within two months.
A controversial law
Gov. Phil Scott, during a primary debate in 2018 with then Republican rival Keith Stern, said he was not a huge fan of this legislation when he signed Act 94 in 2017.
“I think what they wanted was an assault weapons ban, and then they chose the magazines instead,” Scott said during the debate. “I think there were other good aspects within the bills that were passed. I don’t believe in the magazine portion of that, but it wasn’t enough for me to veto the bill.”
The Vermont Supreme Court in 2021 voted to uphold the controversial magazine ban.
“Vermont’s ban on large capacity magazines, according to the Court, is a reasonable exercise of the State’s police power and poses a minimal, if any, burden on the right to bear arms,” the State Attorney General T.J. Donovan said.
However, things could still change for Vermont’s law in the future. The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, a leading gun rights advocacy organization, has challenged the mag ban and 72-hour waiting period in federal court. The case is currently stayed pending the outcome of appeal to the 2nd Circuit on a lower court ruling regarding a temporary restraining order. Other cases challenging magazine bans are working their way through courts nationwide.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
Discover more from Vermont Daily Chronicle
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categories: Gunrights, Public Safety
My nasty bumper sticker is still on my mailbox as to what i think about PHIL, the thirty round mag. thief.
All thirty round mags. owned prior to this law are still legal and can not be seized by the Vermont government.
If I remember correctly, Mr. Misch purchased the magizine in New Hampshire, and brought it back into the state . That was the issue for him . Kind of like some one buying pot from a state where it is legal, and then bringing it back into a state where it is not . It’s chicken crap, but that is as they say, what it is .
So why was he found guilty of owning high capacity?
A knife can be shown for mass killings as have happened in other countries. But knives are not recognized as being the bad semi-killer. Vehicles can be mass killers, more so than a semi in a home under safe storage. Words have also made people commit suicide. Where’s the real thinking?
If he’s guilty of having a magazine, then he’s been convicted of being an American who supports the constitution. So, by default, those who have jailed/convicted him are guilty of treason, along with being weak minded…..and a marxist tool.
If the VTGOP had anything between their legs they would ask President Trump for a pardon.
Of course, that will not be forth coming, the transition to marxism is complete.
Any lawyers here? What happens if they fine him and or jail him and the law is subsequently deemed unconstitutional?
The entire “Kiah Morris” escapade was plotted & planned via groups such as BLM & “Rights & Democracy VT” a few years’ back to bring attention to VT as a supposed “racist” state in order to enable these subversive groups to commence with their flood of anti-police/Marxism into this state already headed by a Communist Senator and begin their reign of terror & anarchy that continues today.
In fact, as anyone with gray matter could have guessed, nobody in Bennington gave a damn about who Morris was married to nor were the Bennington Police ever targeting minority people. In fact, it was the drug-running minority (and Caucasian too) gang bangers from out-of-state who were targeting Bennington proper & Bennington County as a means of creating another one of their infamous drug pipelines between MA and/or NYC that was going on. But diverting attention from ACTUAL problems is always effective and Kiah Morris constantly crying “wolf” over alleged “racism” perpetrated against her netted her a nice chunk of “free” (i.e.: taxpayer-funded money) greenbacks handed to her by the Town of Bennington for these purported acts DESPITE a number of impartial outside investigations which were conducted that never found her claims substantiated.
The white man and US Constitutional rights and the rule of law – all continue to be the big, bad boogey man in Vermont.
Magazine Ban, another feckless law or in the mind of progressives, we’ll be safer if we have this on the books ” fools”, it will stop nothing if a criminal wants to cause chaos and they will, bans and laws mean nothing, so a law-abiding citizens will be your only salvation, Feckless laws from feckless elected officials, we deserve better !!
Common sense will go a long way.
That law was the end for me. It took 4 years, but I got out the People’s Republik of Vermont. I absolutely LOVE Eastern Kentucky.
There are too many reasons to list, but for starters, the property taxes on my 2,000 sf house and 6½ acres were $68 last year. That is NOT a typo – sixty-eight dollars.
If Mr. Misch’s grand plan was to violate with the intent to challenge the law, he should be commended but as I recall he just made a public spectacle of buying the mags in NH and then bringing them to VT, which is a violation. His high profile as a scofflaw also makes him an easy target for our moonbat, vindictive, politically-biased Attorney General. There are no date stamps on most mags and if you personally go out of state, pay cash and bring them back to VT, there is no way for authorities to prove you are in violation, as it was NOT retroactive. Possession of “high capacity” mags already owned by the enactment date is not a violation.
If you get prosecuted for this, it is by your own carelessness or brazenness. It needs to be overturned on Constitutional grounds but until then, why set yourself up as a target?
He was actually accused of domestic assault at the time to his girlfriend or wife. They told the police that he had went to New Hampshire and bought the magazines and cross the border and they found the evidence on the video camera in New Hampshire.
Love reading this. Details of the whole.lrocess
And to point out the absurdities and vagaries of this law, there is a 10 round limit for “rifle mags” and a 15 round limit for “handgun mags”. There are handguns and pistol-caliber carbine rifles that share the compatibility of the same magazines. If you buy a Glock 19 it comes with two 15-round mags. If you buy a KelTec Sub2000 carbine in Vermont, it is available with two 10-round Glock19-compatible mags, with the orange plunger to indicate the smaller capacity. You can physically interchange the 15-round handgun mag into this pistol-caliber carbine. As far as I can guess, if you already owned the 15-round mags and insert one in the carbine, you have not violated the statute, since you had prior ownership. If you were to now purchase spare 15-round Glock mags to legally use in your handgun, and then insert one in your Keltec, have you violated the law, since there was no prior ownership and you now have a rifle with a 15-round mag purchased post-ban? How does one really know when you have violated this law in this situation? A vague law like this that needs explaining and interpretation is just more sloppy legislation coming out of Montpelier.
The orange follower in the Glock magazine was a change made with the 5th Generation Glock. I don’t believe it has anything to do with capacity because all 5th generation Glocks have orange followers making it easier to see when the mag is empty. However, you bring up a good point. Since PC carbines are pistol caliber like 9mm, 5.7, 10mm or 40 Smith & Wesson, they are no more dangerous than a pistol of the same caliber. When people who make laws about guns and have zero knowledge about them the public can get trapped by ambiguous laws. This is one of many such laws.
Here’s another point, this Misch guy is going to have a record because he bought a magazine while convicted felons with numerous run ins with the law are roaming our streets, cities and roads carrying illegal guns and 30 round magazines with no arrest unless they get caught. He didn’t do anything with that magazine except buy it. At the same time there are thousands of those same magazines still in Vermont that are legal to own. The shear numbers of them still in existence in the state with not one mass shooting to blame them on proves that only mad men or women use them in evil ways. Under the same thought pattern why shouldn’t we ban cars for all sober drivers to stop the drunk drivers? Driving is a privilege but firearms are protected by the Bill of Rights and Article 16 of the VT constitution and both are ignored by certain lawmakers. The Supreme Court has already ruled that standard (30) round magazine can not be banned in the Bruin Supreme court case but lawmakers do it anyway because the snail movement and expense of lawsuits gives them the advantage. These laws will be overturned and certain cases are already to be heard.
5th generation Glocks were released to the public in 2017 prior to the mag ban passed in Vermont.
Looking it up, and as I understand it, Glock makes all of their double-stack mags available with the orange follower to indicate it as a “reduced capacity” mag limited to 10 rounds. Only the normally 6 or 10 round, single stack mags for the narrower models 43, 43X and 48 dont come with the orange follower since they dont exceed 10 rounds anyhow. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Washington have 10-round limits for all firearms.