Editor’s note: The following is an email alert sent out by the Vermont Traditions Coalition.
Vermont Traditions Coalition applauds Governor Phil Scott on his Veto of S. 30, an act relating to prohibiting possession of firearms within hospital buildings. The bill has many sections unrelated to that title and we addressed these most recently in the House Judiciary Committee when the bill was loaded down with additional sections as a “Christmas tree” for gun control advocates.
VTC’s Bill Moore joined many other advocates and critiqued the implications for restricting gun purchases and infringements upon lawful gun owners exercising Constitutional carry. Most disturbing, the bill contained very intrusive elements on folks seeking mental health and addiction recovery services in the stressful aftermath of Covid lockdowns and financial losses.
Moore testified extensively on that and also led a fight to have the bill referred to the House Health Care Committee for scrutiny of these provisions. Representatives Anne Donahue, Pat Brennan, Brian Smith and others assisted VTC in that action.
While we are encouraged and thank the Governor for his Veto of S. 30 on specific grounds and objections, we continue to object to any supposed “loophole” in the NICS background check system. Governor Scott’s Veto Statement was quite detailed in his decision, and the letter can be viewed here.
We especially wish to extend gratitude for Governor Scott’s mention of Vermont’s looming mental health crisis and the need for serious attention by legislative leadership. We would add the need for crisis care beds is only the tip of the iceberg as Vermont faces the same doubling and even tripling of self-harm and self-medication addiction rates as the rest of the nation. Averting suicides and drug related crimes are the best form of “gun control.”
Our youth are especially at risk and ARPA funds should be directed immediately under the direction of professionals in the field. Legislative leadership has shown little interest in seriously addressing these deeper questions, so we hope the Governor follows up his Veto statement with many more specific proposals very soon.
While Vermonters have learned to live with the NICS Background Check system, it is an unconstitutional “Prior Restraint” on the exercise of an Individual Constitutional Right. Even the 3-day delays now in Federal Statute harken back to a time when many of the NICS checks were still completed by fax machine and telephone calls to local sheriffs, and the fact that BATFE has the capability to track and confiscate firearms somehow incorrectly transferred begs the question that most gun owners know the answer to; the NICS system is a back door system of gun owner registration and we know these laws can lead to confiscation regimes by future administrations.
On that basis we continue to oppose any state level expansion of the NICS delay period, and we continue to request the repeal of the large capacity magazine ban as ineffective “feel good” legislation passed by the legislative supermajority to appease demands to “just do something” without facing the roots of crime like addiction and drug trafficking in the state.
Vermont Traditions Coalition wants to add thanks to all our friends and supporters who spoke, wrote to legislators and contacted the Governor about these badly drafted Bills. As always, without that support we would be subject to the whims of the extreme measures proposed by those who would extinguish our freedoms and the Vermont Traditions way of life! Clearly without all of our support, the Governor would not have the knowledge and support he needs to take a stand against S.30. Thank you all. As the Quebec license plate says, “Je’ me souviens.” We do remember!
William Moore
Firearms Policy Analyst
Here’s a thought to get the message across to our “leaders”:
Put a copy of the Bill of Rights in an envelope and mail one to the Governor, your district representatives and Senators and anyone else in Mountpeculiar that you think might need the reminder. Flood their offices with MAIL, not emails, texts, or phone calls which leave no tangible reminder of where their constituents stand on the matter. As a matter of fact, the same could hold true for our Washington delegation as well as the President.
It’s old school but it might make an impact.
ALL GUN CONTROL UNDER THE CONSTITUTION IS ILLEGAL! Government does not give us our rights. Our rights are not given to us by the Constitution. Our rights are given to us by God and are inherent to us as human beings and by the Laws of Nature. These rights that we are born with are affirmed to us by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments of the Constitution and specify what the government can and cannot do to us as citizens of the United States. Government’s only power is the power which is enumerated to it by the Constitution. The federal government, a state, county or town cannot pass a law contrary to the Constitution. Article 6 the Supremacy Clause makes the Constitution the supreme law of the land. Under our Constitution the government is not delegated the authority to legislate, enforce, or adjudicate laws pertaining to the exercise of our rights under the Constitution – Period. The government is not delegated the authority by our Constitution to require the government’s permission to exercise any right affirmed to us under the Constitution. The government is not delegated the authority by our Constitution to compel us to waive our guaranteed 4th Amendment right to be secure from unwarranted interrogation, search, or seizure in the absence of probable cause of criminal conduct. Or compel us to waive our guaranteed 5th Amendment right to due process as a precondition to being allowed (or denied) the exercise of our right to keep and bear arms. This violation of our 4th and 5th Amendment rights happens every time that we are interrogated under penalty of perjury without probable cause that a crime has been committed when we fill out B.A.T.F.E form 4473 to purchase a firearm. The government is not delegated the authority by our Constitution to compel us to waive our 10th Amendment right to a federal government exercising only those powers delegated to it by the United States Constitution, and State governments are prohibited the exercise of any power prohibited to the States by the United States Constitution.
The government is not delegated the authority under the 14th Amendment to make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Government is not delegated by our Constitution the authority to license firearm dealers or operate or fund the most powerful anti-rights government agency on the planet called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Since no Amendment in the Bill of Rights has been repealed thru Article V or by a National Convention of States, the only legal way to change the Constitution, all existing gun control laws presently violate five Amendments of the Bill of Rights and goes against the settled law of two Supreme Court decisions, Heller vs the District of Columbia 2008 and McDonald vs Chicago 2010. Both decisions affirm that the people’s right to keep and bear arms is an individual right and that citizens are allowed firearms in common use, those small arms or those that operate like them and are issued to our National Guard which comprises of citizen soldiers.
The purpose of compelled background checks as a precondition to allowing or denying the transfer of a firearm is to deceive firearm owners and prospective owners into unknowingly waiving their rights guaranteed by the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 10th and 14th Amendments so they will have no rights left to claim when the government decides to register and confiscate our firearms. We have a right to keep and bear arms, not a privilege to keep and bear arms. Our rights are beyond the reach of the government and no citizen has to ask government permission to exercise a right. Government has no authority delegated to it by the Constitution to deceive its citizens into waiving their rights or acquiescing to the loss of their rights by subterfuge, scam, fraud, or force. DO NOT VOLUNTARILY GIVE UP YOUR RIGHTS!
S.30 is just another liberal scam to curtail the rights of law-abiding citizens, how many ” issues ”
have we had with a ” Firearms ” in the hospital ??…that’s what I thought.
The so-called ” Charleston Loophole ” is just a talking point for the libs, no loophole just a matter
of fact from the federal system, then again, out of the millions and millions that are run through
NICS, how many were detained for the three-day process, and how many Vermont transactions
were detained ??………………. that’s what I thought.
Liberals just don’t get it, what amazes me, legislators, that don’t have a clue as they are just
following an agenda. Hey Liberals, it’s not the law-abiding citizens you need to worry about!
If you think putting up a sign ” Firearms ” are not allowed, and you think any crack-head criminal
if going to follow it, you’re dumber than I thought !!
S.30 should have been Vetoed and should be every time it hits the Governor’s Desk. So instead
of working on ” Non ” issues, like stated in S.30, How about working on a balanced budget and
lower taxes………………………..