By Guy Page
The November 8 election was tough on Vermont’s pro-Second Amendment advocates for gun rights.
Voters returned only 37 Republicans to the 150 seat-house, eliminating virtually any possibility of a ⅓ of the House membership supporting a veto by Gov. Phil Scott. Speaking generally, Republicans traditionally support gun rights; Democrats traditionally favor gun restrictions. Scott had embraced some gun control legislation but demurred on and even vetoed other bills. Any future vetos are highly unlikely to be sustained.
A few days later, re-elected Sen. Phil Baruth (D-Chittenden) was chosen to lead the Vermont Senate as its next Pro Tem. He succeeds Becca Balint, who was elected to Congress. Baruth is the acknowledged leader and driving force of firearms restrictions in the Vermont Legislature.
Yesterday, Conor Casey, a newly-elected House member for Montpelier and executive director of the pro-gun control advocacy group GunsenseVT, told Vermont Daily Chronicle his organization will definitely pursue repeal of the state law prohibiting municipal firearm restrictions.
Passed in 1987, the Sportsmen’s Law states: “Except as otherwise provided by law, no town, city, or incorporated village, by ordinance, resolution, or other enactment, shall directly regulate hunting, fishing, and trapping or the possession, ownership, transportation, transfer, sale, purchase, carrying, licensing, or registration of traps, firearms, ammunition, or components of firearms or ammunition.”
The law follows Vermont’s enduring legal principle of ‘pre-emption,’ in which state law pre-empts (supercedes, trumps) municipal law.
“A Vermont municipality only has the power that the Legislature allows it to have,” Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs president Chris Bradley said. “This concept is known as “Dillon’s Rule”, a cornerstone of municipal law with Vermont being one of 40 states that have this sensible approach to handling certain types of laws.”
Sensible or not, Gunsense has the Sportsmen’s Law in its sights.
“Repealing the preemption law is absolutely on the GunSense legislative agenda,” Casey told VDC. “I anticipate you’ll see other towns passing supportive resolutions in the coming weeks.” Burlington is considered the leading candidate for firearms restrictions.
And Gunsense won’t stop at changing just one major gun law.
“In addition, GSVT will be pushing waiting periods, safe storage, a ban on assault weapons (based on the NY definition) and expanding the ERPO [extreme risk protection order] law,” Casey said.
Speaking to his own role as both lawmaker and paid policy advocate, Casey said he plans to remain with GunSense, but not in a policymaking capacity.
“I will remain at GunSense part-time in January, but as the organization has both a [501]C3 and [501]C4, I’ll be shifting to the former, working on education campaigns and performing more administrative work. The organization is currently in the process of bringing a government relations person onboard for political work,” Casey said.