Bob Orleck: Senator Sears is a changed man

By Bob Orleck

Speaking during a committee session taking testimony on gun bill S.221, state Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, said Thursday he’s seeing a “major, huge sea change” in attitudes about gun legislation. People, Sears said, want to feel safe.

state of Vermont

Vermont state Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington

Dick Sears replied that lawmakers have an “obligation to do the best we can” to avoid situations such as the mass shootings that have occurred at schools and other locations in the country. At the same time, the senator said, it’s important to be “respectful” of Vermont’s traditions when it comes to firearms.”

Senator Sears thinks he can have it both ways, one with hollow words about doing the best to stop mass shootings, and at the same time offering teasing suggestions to his misguided left about gun control. This is the same Senator Sears who has fed the danger of mass shootings by his obsession with legalizing marijuana for any use. His actions have already guaranteed that there will be more high potency THC marijuana products available that lead some to commit suicide and other violent acts such as mass killings.

He has championed the legalization of this marijuana for recreational use by those over 21 years of age that also led to the normalization and reduction in the perception of harm to teens. Some of these teens are the potential and most likely perpetrators of mass shootings in schools. He has also proposed S.216 that, if passed into law, would make medical marijuana available for any condition at all, and not just for adults but for minors as well.

So, he has pandered to the those who wish to flout the Constitution and ban guns, and yet has no intention to support that, knowing full well that it would cost him his cherished status as Senator. Sears has violated his oath to the citizens of Vermont. He is hypocritically playing into the lie that guns are the culprit in these killings. Guns have been around forever, but these killings are a relatively new phenomenon. It is time for all to face up to the real causes for the carnage. Not only is he playing politics with gun rights, he is the prime mover in creating an atmosphere of drug addiction that will lead to the very danger he preaches that he must do what he can to prevent.

Dick Sears needs to honest up with us as to why he is doing this. He is a changed man, one who used to be reasonable in his politics and his desire to truly represent and protect our citizens. No longer! This old man has been in the Senate way too long and needs to be replaced by someone who truly cares for us and our children and acts accordingly.

Bob Orleck is a retired pharmacist and former Vermont assistant attorney general. He lives in Randolph.

Image courtesy of state of Vermont

8 thoughts on “Bob Orleck: Senator Sears is a changed man

  1. Sears has gotten way too full of himself–and out of touch with those who put him there–needs to retire—or be retired.

  2. There are two reasons to vote “Yes” for Marijuana legalization. Both of those reasons are illegal themselves. 1) CYA is the reason if you are a user. 2) Being paid as an “undisclosed lobbyist” for the illegal Marijuana drug industry. Any other reason has to be based on either pure ignorance or gross reckless rebellion in the face of the preponderance of devastation by Marijuana use coming out of Colorado. Presumably those are the same reasons one could use to add gun control to law abiding citizens in order to cover for inept elected officials and negligent government employees whose jobs entail preventing these travesties. Sears is another “inept” (criminal?) elected official.

  3. I would like to see Senator Sears answer this:

    Purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer involves filling out Form 4473. It is illegal, per federal law, for a marijuana user (medicinal or recreational) to possess a firearm. If a person is discovered in possession of a firearm and ANY amount of marijuana, that firearm must be confiscated and the person charged. Will this happen?

    • What are you saying ?
      Feds take away their 2nd rights because they suffer from a problem that requires a particular medical treatment ?
      Alcohol is way more dangerous to mix with firearms, what would happen if they do the same with that?

      • What I’m saying, Mike, is that amidst all the talk about strengthening background checks, it still remains illegal (look at a 4473 question 11(e)) to possess a firearm and be an illegal drug user (and it doesn’t matter if the state has legalized MJ or not – 9th Circuit Court ruling from 2016).
        Follow all the laws in place before developing any new ones that won’t work. Doesn’t matter if alcohol is ‘way more dangerous’ or not – that’s not a prohibition on the ATF Firearms Transaction Form. Don’t like it? Then change it.
        You don’t get to ignore the fact I stated because you don’t like it – if the state decides to ignore it, then we’re all free to ignore any aspects we don’t like. Get it?

  4. I use to think of Dick Sears as the Old Bull fighting to settle the herd down , I guess it’s time the old Bull gets put out to pasture !!

    He has contracted the dreaded ” Liberal Mind ” disease………………………. So Sad !!

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