Posted on 02/10/2015 6:55:29 PM PST by Olog-hai
Hundreds of Vermonters on Tuesday night debated proposed legislation that would expand background checks for gun buyers and impose other new firearms restrictions.
At a packed Statehouse, the Senate Judiciary and Health and Welfare Committee heard testimony from supporters and opponents of the legislation, though opponents in the hall and nearby rooms where video was piped in easily outnumbered supporters.
Several opponents pointed to Vermont’s rank in FBI statistics as the safest state in the country. They argued that Senate Bill 31 isn’t needed.
“If I’m being assaulted on a city street, I’d rather have a .38 on me than a copy of S. 31,” said Erika Eldred. […]
“Mao, Hitler, Stalin and Castro all instituted gun confiscation before they killed their own people,” said Bob Shea of Fairfax. “We are headed on a slippery slope toward confiscation.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I suppose the days of the Green Mountain Boys have long been forgotten.
Since when has there been a gun crime spree in Vermont.
Then again, the gun control lobby never rests. The guns aren’t their ultimate goal. It is power over a defenseless citizenry.
“The issue is never the issue, The issue is the revolution” -David Horowitz
Amen Erika Eldred!
I'm amazed their 2A freedom has survived this long -- I don't suppose it will last much longer now.
... AP hastily comforts its readers.
SB31, restricting the private transfer of firearms, has been introduced by Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell.
I read that...strange how they have the most liberal gun laws???
It’s the demographics.
Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Vermont ranks:
2nd highest proportion of non-Hispanic Whites (94.3%)[84][85]
2nd oldest median age[86]
41st highest proportion of Asians (1.3%)
49th highest proportion of Hispanics (1.5%)
48th highest proportion of Blacks (1.0%)
29th highest proportion of Native Americans (0.4%)
39th highest proportion of people of mixed race (1.7%)
28th highest proportion of males (49.2%)
24th highest proportion of females (50.8%)
Campbell said he sponsored the bill to empower state prosecutors to prosecute drug traffickers who are convicted felons and who may possess firearms.
> Felons are already prohibited from possessing firearms, dumb@zz.
Yup. You nailed it.
The elephant in the room no one will acknowledge........
All those flannel-clad lesbians are packin’!
“I read that...strange how they have the most liberal gun laws???”
Their state supreme court correctly interpreted the state constitution in the 1920’s. Thus the legislature’s hands have been tied as the liberals from New York and Massachusetts overran the state.
Ah, maybe your Mother should have lived in Vermont.
Neither 2A nor gun control have anything at all to do with “crime”. 2A is to defend against government tyranny, while gun control is to remove the power to defend against tyranny of government.
Our right to defend ourselves against criminals requires no 2A, any more than we need an amendment granting us the right to breathe.
The argument with the statist lefties should be immediately steered away from the subject of crime as soon as they bring it up.
Don`t Screw with Vermont
“On the 23d of June 1775 Gen Bayley prepared an address to the Northern Indians which is here given in full Newbury Coos June 23 1775.The present war is only between the King and a part of the Lords and America. The Lords say all Americans shall become slaves or servants to them shall plow no more than theysay eat nor drink nor war nor hunt but only by their leave shall not kill deer moose beaver or any other thing but by their consent. Americans say they will and that the King by the Lords advice has sent redcoats to kill us if we will not be subject to what they say. And we have THIRTY THOUSAND MEN WITH GUNS GREAT AND SMALL [my caps] to fight in our defense we only want to live as we have lived here to fore. We do not want to fight if they would let us alone.”-p73, “History of Newbury, Vermont: From the Discovery of the Coös Country to ...” edited by Frederic Palmer Well
1777 Battle of Bennington
“I enlisted said he at Francestown NH in Colonel Stickney’s regiment and Captain Clark’s company as soon as I learned that Stark would accept the command of the State troops six or seven others from the same town joined the army at the same time. We marched forthwith to Number Four and stayed there a week. Meantime I received a horn of powder and run two or three hundred bullets. I HAD BROUGHT MY OWN GUN [my caps].” p393 - “History of Newbury, Vermont: From the Discovery of the Coös Country to ...” edited by Frederic Palmer Wells
AMERICAN FARMERS BEAT THE HESSIANS AT HUBBARDTON
“A History of the State of Vermont: From Its Discovery and Settlement to the ...”
By Nathan Hoskins, 1831, p66
Battle of Hubbardton, 1777:
“Fortune now began to favor the Americans. The decisive victory at Bennington diffused confidence and joy. The friends of independence before dispirited by misfortune and defeat were now animated by the prospect which suddenly
burst upon them of a distinguished victory over an arrogant and once dreaded enemy. The greatest exertions and enterprise were everywhere displayed.
To see the American militia without any military attire or weapons except a farmer’s gun destitute of a bayonet force entrenchments, kill and make prisoners of the royal troops filled the enemy with indignation and amazement.”
VERMONT INDEPENDENT COMPANY OF MILITIAMEN
A “Company of Independent Militia marched to Fort Ticonderoga under the command of Captain Thomas Johnson in 1777 and assisted in the siege of Mount Independence” p.404, Wells
Vermont Constitution `Article 16th. Right to bear arms; standing armies; military power subordinate to civil
That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State
1812 A COMPANY OF VERMONT MINUTEMEN ORGANIZED IN 1812
John Bradford 5th March 1813
I think you left out the most important demographic, about Vermont having the 2nd highest number of Massachusetts people in the nation...
And on a side note: if you're from Massachusetts, stay the hell out of Texas: we don't need folks like you here.
Liberal weenie Bostonians have been retiring or simply moving to Vermont for decades.
This has nothing to do with crime, it’s about the Cambridge elites and Bloomberg getting the camel’s nose under the tent. Look at “civil unions”, we all said it was “gay marriage” when it happened, no, no, no, they said, it’s about “fairness”. It’s all about the Harvard intellectuals and setting a precedent that can eventually sweep across the country. Vermont is an easy mark, stupid citizen legislature and a populace more concerned about putting food on the table than following politics, a perfect recipe for legislative hi-jinks.
When a liberal says “fairness”, that really means an attack on everyone’s freedom.
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