Posted on 06/26/2015 9:53:23 AM PDT by Johnny Navarone
Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a Fish and Wildlife bill last week that included language to legalize suppressors and repeal one of the oldest bans in the nation on the devices.
The bill was introduced to the House in February as a standalone measure before being rolled into larger Senate economic development package and finally into the House F&W measure which passed the legislature with broad support. Vermont’s prohibition on silencers and suppressors predated the National Firearms Act.
The legislation, signed by Shumlin on June 17, was introduced by Rep. Pat Brennan, R-Colchester, who championed the devices for safety and target shooting.
Brennan’s language in the measure, HB 5, strikes the long-time ban on manufacture, sale or possession of gun silencers, and replaces it with new language that would allow all of the above so long as it remains inside the current federal framework as regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
While Brennan’s initial proposal allowed for their use in hunting, that reform has been stripped over concerns by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department of poaching. Further, use of the devices by civilians will be limited to “sport shooting ranges.”
The National Rifle Association, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, a multitude of state gun rights groups, and the American Suppressor Association championed the legislation, which could potentially mean jobs for Vermont-based defense contractor General Dynamics.
“The legalization of suppressors in Vermont is a huge step forward for not only the state, but also the country,” Knox Williams, ASA president, told Guns.com Friday. “Governor Shumlin’s signature on H. 5 is the culmination of two years of hard work on the part of Rep. Brennan, the Vermont Sportsmen’s Caucus, and the ASA.
Williams advised the work is not done in the Green Mountain State.
“We are thrilled that recreational shooters in the state will now be able to protect their hearing in a new and effective way. We look forward to next year, when we will attempt to legalize their use while hunting,” said Williams.
The state joins the majority of the country in legalizing firearm mufflers, following on the heels of Minnesota’s move to do likewise in May. In that state, Gov. Mark Dayton (D) reversed course on a promised veto threat made to lawmakers who attached the language to a popular judiciary policy bill passed in a veto-proof margin. In the end, Dayton signed it into law without comment.
NFA-compliant suppressors have made a steady march from obscure novelties to mainstream acceptance in recent years. With over 3,000 manufacturers approved to produce the devices, as of March 2014, no less than 571,750 legal suppressors are listed in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
Vermont’s new suppressor law, codified as Act 61, will take effect on July 2.
Now we need to get rid of the NFA $200 tax and any permitting processes.
Given the state of the federal government I have little hope of suppressors being removed from NFA control. It is good when states remove their bans but the real problem is once again federal.
It will be a lot harder to repeal restrictions on automatic weapons, though. They're scary to some people.
Adjusted for inflation, that 1934 $200 tax would be over $3,400 today.
I doubt it. I suspect that some sort of EO from obama on assault weapons will come down very soon. They are on a roll right now.
It essentially taxed the right to own a suppressor out of existence in the '30s. Thanks to inflation (never thought I'd say that), it's now largely an annoyance, increasing the cost of a suppressor by a third (or less).
His EO powers are quite limited. Rumor has it he's going to instruct the BATFE to reclassify AK and AR "assault pistols" as NFA items. He could also move to further restrict importation of some firearms.
He couldn't impose a new "assault weapons" ban without cooperation from Congress.
I’m telling my shooting buddies to stock up on anything they think is essential for their sport and defense. No telling what the King will do now that we are subjects and not citizens.
Jesu! Don't give 'em any ideas! :-)
Then again, it's probably on the "It's just fair" shelf, waiting for another incident.
What states still do not allow ownership of suppressors?
Even with Norway’s crazy restrictive gun laws. Use of Silencers/Supressors is encouraged as being neighborly. Go figure.
“What states still do not allow ownership of suppressors?”
I stand to be corrected but I believe such states would be; California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. And include the District of Columbia.
Feinstein an others talked of raising the tax to $3000 during the days in the gun rush of 2012-2013.
It does not stop him from trying. Or from trying to bring back the 1994 Assault weapons ban and saying that the sunset provisions in the bill did not exist, and the 1994 legislature did not intend for the bill to sunset.
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