Vermont: Gun Control Bill Placed On Senate Calendar and Ready for Floor Vote

The Vermont Senate is expected to vote on this year’s biggest gun control bill as early as tomorrow.  During the last couple of weeks, the Senate Judiciary Committee spent multiple days holding committee hearings and a public meeting on a package of gun bills.  Gun owners turned out in force at the public meeting in Randolph Center last week.  After much debate and consideration, the committee opted to start from scratch and author its own committee bill.

S.169 is the new committee bill.  This legislation passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last Friday on a 3-2 vote, and it is now on the Senate floor calendar.  It is expected that the full Senate will vote on the bill tomorrow.  Please contact your state Senator and urge them to OPPOSE S.169.

S.169 contains provisions from multiple bills, both good and bad, including S.22.  As written, S.169 creates a 24-hour waiting period for purchasing handguns.  The committee went on to incorporate “fixes” to last year’s magazine ban, as well as remove the sunset date on an exemption for competitors at shooting competitions, and address an oversight whereby responding law enforcement from out-of-state could be in violation of last year’s magazine ban.  While these “fixes” are indeed improvements over what was offered in the original bills, gun owners can never accept a waiting period on a constitutionally guaranteed right.

Please contact your state Senator and respectfully ask for a “NO” vote on S.169.  ​