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Multiple Lawsuits Challenge Vermont’s New Gun Laws

A gun rights advocate holds a sign as Governor Phil Scott signs new gun restrictions into law on April 11, 2018
Pat Bradley/WAMC
A gun rights advocate holds a sign as Governor Phil Scott signs new gun restrictions into law on April 11, 2018

Gun rights advocates have filed a second legal challenge over Vermont's new gun restrictions.
In April, the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and other groups filed a lawsuit asking that an injunction be placed on implementation of S.55, Vermont’s new gun control law, and that the court declare the new law unconstitutional.

Attorney Brady Toensing explains the suit specifically challenges the constitutionality of the ban on certain sized magazines for firearms.  “These magazines of the size prohibited by the statute were around in the 1500’s. There were firearms with this size magazine at the time the Vermont Constitution was written. And what’s important for analysis today is whether these magazines, which are part of commonly held firearms, are commonly held. And they are! They’re so common to the point of near ubiquity.”

S.55 also creates universal background checks and raises the legal age to purchase a gun to 21. Last week a second gun rights group, Gun Owners Of Vermont, filed a civil suit in Windham County challenging the law.  

Vermont Traditions Coalition Firearms Policy Analyst Bill Moore is anticipating the court will issue an injunction to block implementation of the law.  “I’m optimistic that the Court will take the precedent and see Article 16 for what it is: an individual right to exercise for self defense and other lawful purposes the use and carry of a firearm by lawful gun owners. I don’t know what the court’s going to say but all of Vermont’s constitutional precedent, in Rosenthal and Carlton in particular, say very simply it’s an individual right and if there’s no malicious intent, no felonious intent, then the right’s protected. It’s a very strict interpretation of Article 16 that’s on the constitutional books right now.”

Gun Sense Vermont Executive Director Clai Lasher-Sommers is not surprised by the lawsuits.  “When these laws were being enacted they were very very careful about what they did because they wanted to make sure that the Supreme Court of Vermont would uphold them. You know the Attorney General’s doing what he you know that office is doing what they need to do and there were a fair amount of attorneys in the room in the chambers when we were going through this. And I don’t think that they’re going to win these lawsuits.”

Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan has said the law’s universal background checks and raising the buying age do not strip people of the right to bear arms.
 

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