This commentary is by Paul Dame, chair of the Vermont GOP.
Democrats have once again passed a law that encourages everyone to go out and buy a guy immediately — before you can’t. This weekend on July 1st a number of new restrictions, taxes and fees will go into effect thanks to the Democratic supermajority. A lot of ink has already been spilled about the rise in economic penalties many of us will have to pay for the Democrats’ plans to change our lives according to their preferences, including paying more for your driver’s license renewal and your car registration. This will happens despite the fact that the DMV didn’t request these increases to cover thier cost of operations, and a few years ago Democrats convinced us we needed to spend $80 Million on a DMV software program to stop the cost increases. And many already know about the record-setting $8.5 Billion budget that also comes with a new payroll tax, and an almost certain increase in property taxes next fall.
Paul Dame, chairman of the Vermont GOP
But what may have escaped your attention is that Democrats have implemented a new infringement on your second amendment right (and an infringement on your rights under Article 16 of the VT Constitution) to legally purchase a firearm. If you pay for a firearm on Friday, you can take it home the same day. But if you wait until Saturday July 1st, you will be subject to a new 3-day waiting period that even some Democrats admitted was probably unconstitutional.
So Democrats are sending a clear message; don’t wait until you think you need a gun to buy one – you need to buy it earlier, at least 3 days or more early. Since you can’t know exactly when you will need a gun for self-defense the best chance you have to be ready is to buy one this week before the new restriction goes in to law.
This is the thing that really makes my blood boil about these gun laws. The more laws they pass, the greater urgency I have to buy a gun. When I knew that I could get one whenever I wanted, and felt assured that the right would always be free to exercise — I didn’t feel the need to exercise it. I didn’t own a gun, but when Democrats passed a law outlawing magazines of a certain capacity, I went out and bought a few — even though I didn’t have a firearm to use them with. But if I didn’t buy them at that time, I would have been prohibited from buying them today, or some other date in the future when I wanted or needed them. Now that Democrats are pushing further gun control laws I, and other Vermonters, are being pressured to buy a guy before Friday because who knows what they will try to do next.
The idea is that this new law is supposed to reduce the impulsiveness of buying a gun as a suicide prevention measure. So a rational person would wonder why it restricts all Vermonters, including those who already own several fire arms, from purchasing a new one when they need it. But the reality is that Democrats don’t actually care if your rights are infringed, or if the law infringes on freedom more than it protects lives. Many of them get a lot of money from non-profit and political action groups to advance the policy that is put before them and not ask too many questions. So as long as they keep getting that money and winning their re-election they don’t have to trouble themselves with the constitutionality of a bill, or the effect it has on people, especially people who don’t vote that regularly. If Democrats think they can make anything marginally better by taking away your rights, they have no aversion to doing it.
Ironically, if someone were to try to purchase a gun when the law goes in to affect on July 1st, the 72-hour waiting period would end on July 4th, Independence Day. So on the very first day that you would legally be able to take possession of your firearm under state law, the federal holiday will likely prevent you from doing so.
But until we recruit more Republicans to run for office to stop this nonsense, and convince more voters who care about gun rights to start voting consistently against those who have proven they have a low regard for our constitutional rights, the Democrats in the supermajorty will keep pushing father and farther to see how far they can go.
We all have to realize that these infringements on our rights, and not just the ones involving the second amendment but others as well, are all on us. We have been complacent in our duties as citizens to make our voices heard on these issues where it really counts. We’d rather read about them on sites like this and complain about them in the safety of anonymity. We need to take advantage of any opportunity to confront our elected officials face-to-face when the opportunity is provided and ask the hard questions about their voting records. As long as there is a “delete” button and a trash can, emails and other correspondence with them are too easily ignored, they need to be looked straight in the eye and asked the hard questions. Protecting and preserving our constitutional rights takes courage. It’s time to buckle up and get on board.
I thought Vermont law makers were encouraging suicide and trying to make it easier, even for out of staters, all in the name of equity…
If you are not armed to the teeth….you have not been paying attention.
Yep
We are armed to the teeth and look what they do to us. Imagine what they would do to us if they took all the guns.
“If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever”.
George Orwell
“People with ARs don’t get in cattle cars”. – Yehuda Remer
Yes Vermont’s feckless Governor folded on gun issues, a three-day wait period will
accomplish nothing, this law was put into place over one (1) suicide from a young man
in his twenties, yes he had issues, and it was known by his family but they stood back
and now they will carry that until the end…………. pathetic, but let’s make all law-abiding
gun owners pay for their dismal display of parenting typical liberal logic
Liberals always have the cart before the horse, and that includes feckless Scott !!
Snuck that one thru……so here’s an idea…. The Peoples Socialist Republic of Vermont has a track record over the last 30 years of infringing on residents rights, banishing rights outright, and giving criminals and those who commit illegal acts more rights and privileges than law abiding residents get. I would like to see a law where the state is now liable for the safety of its residents. Where the victim, or in the worst case their family, receives a $3 million dollar payout from the state for failure to protect. Why $3 million? That is the current life insurance amount paid to our military, because, make no mistake, we are at war. We are at war against the criminals. The police are overwhelmed and our judicial system believes in a slap on the wrist revolving door. Nothing against law enforcement, but in EVERY violent encounter, in EVERY mass shooting, in EVERY domestic violence…,how many victims did the police save? Not one….that’s because they are like a QRF (Quick Reaction Force….and some time not very quick), they have to respond. We, the people of Vermont ARE the frontlines in the fight against crime, NOT the police. Any law that is passed limiting or hindering the act of self defense of a law abiding resident cause the state to be responsible for the safety of its people, and if the state is negligent in the responsibility then they are liable to pay each victim or their beneficiary a $3 million payout per occurrence.
Leo Betit’s idea is compelling idea. These laws interfere with citizens’ right to protect themselves.
I wonder what law they will pass when someone gets killed within the three-day waiting period?
A 30-day waiting period. 90-day if that doesn’t work.
A “Letter of Demonstrated Need” signed by your local police agency be that State/Sheriff/City or Town.
A sworn statement by your medical provider that you have no known chronic or terminal illnesses, including psychiatric illnesses.
A medical records release, along with a list of all email addresses associated with your name, to enable a social media search for perceived prejudices and/or radicalism.
A firearms liability policy of not less than $1 Million per injury/$3 million aggregate in coverage.
Proof of firearm security within a California-certified gun storage device.
A visual inspection of your home by the State Police, to ensure that no hoard of ammunition exists.
(defined as more than 20 rounds in total, irrespective of the number of firearms owned – with a maximum of 5 rounds per caliber)
A change in the self-defense laws, requiring that you retreat or submit rather than answer violence with violence. “BE a good victim!”
“Criminals are an injured inner child!”
None of this is new, but rather an aggregation of comments made on anti-gun political websites over the past 2 decades. Push back and you’ll find out how ‘reasonable’ these proposed laws are, as this is the deeply held view of the ‘reasonable’ advocates:
We NEED to JOIN THE CIVILIZED WORLD and BAN CIVILIAN GUNS ENTIRELY!! They would elect Justin Trudeau over Joe Biden in a heartbeat.
They got all that in communist countries and in California that leads the country in mass shootings.
Progressive thinking at its finest. George says that if a woman (cuz progressives are all for women) has an abusive husband or significant other and has a restraining order against that person and wants to purchase a forearm for protection but gets stabbed to death by that significant other during the 72-hour waiting period, then we should have a 30- or 90-day waiting period.
Absolutely–from a corrupt government.
I don’t see what the big deal is….waiting three days? It might take that long in NH …because for a long gun or pistol in NH you have to get a background check. Besides, what you ignore is that there are well over 400,000,000 firearms in the USA already….they are USED guns. Don’t get all crazed about a three day wait because that is for mostly NEW guns (or used from dealer). I’d venture to say that the majority of firearm purchases in VT are between other gun owners/collectors/hunters, and all pre owned. No waiting period, no background checks and most of the time they trade for CASH ONLY…so no sales tax! Have you ever been to one of the many gun shows in VT or NH? You can get names of dozens and dozens of sellers and later just go to their house. No background check or ID…So, for new guns and three days? It’s basically a nothing burger, if you are an honest citizen. You probably already have many guns already. If you are that desperate, it is easy to find friends, who have friends, who will sell to you.
I think the issue is the effrontery of legislators to enact ANY law in this arena. (And many others arenas for that matter.) Waiting periods, size of magazines, Scariness of shape, color of socks to be warn on Tuesdays…we’re being “treaded upon”. Leave us alone!
Exactly!
They won’t leave us alone….ever! One option left.
It’s the beginning of the end. Give ’em an inch and they will take a mile.
Jeffery, as a law abiding VT citizen I already have to go thru a “Universal Background Check” to buy a gun from a friend. I have a Constitutional right to bear arms and a right delayed use a right infringed
You are never going to stop the Commiecrat majority in this state with a governor like Eunuch Phil Scott the King of Castrati. Eunuch Phil started the ball rolling when he sold us down the river and emboldened the Commiecrats by signing the Universal Background Check and Magazine Ban after he campaigned on being a conservative and told us he would protect our gun rights. It was only natural that the Commiecrats took their cue from Phil to go further. Now Mrowicki from Putney wants register guns and for us to purchase insurance for every gun we may own. And after that they will try to restrict our access to acquire ammunition. I am only wondering what unique excuse they will use to do it.
At the bottom of the page Paull shills for a phony Constitutional Carry card which the $$$ benefits the Republican Party. Save your money buy a gun or ammo, you will need it in the future. It will serve you better in your closet than the Republican Party ever will.
“New Hampshire has: Open carry, no licensing or permitting requirements, no magazine restrictions, no “assault weapons ban”, no background checks for private sales. Yet they have: No mass shootings since 1982, a lower murder rate than NY, CA, NJ & IL. – Jack V. Lloyd – April 23, 2023
The politicians who have created and passed this legislation are traitors to the Constitution of the United States, the Vermont Constitution and their Oath of Office.
Robert A. Heinlein: “There are no dangerous weapons. There are only dangerous men”.
And these are dangerous men. These are what I call domestic enemies.