Earlier this month, a bill was introduced in the Vermont Senate to require criminal backgrounds checks for everyone buying a gun in Vermont. This means that people who have been deemed too dangerous to own a gun by Vermont courts because of their past violent actions will not be able to.
In states where criminal background checks are required, 38 percent fewer women are shot to death by their domestic partners; gun trafficking — a bad problem in Vermont because of guns-for-drugs — drops by 48 percent; suicide by gunshot drops by almost half; 39 percent fewer police officers are shot to death.
These are good things, and 81 percent of Vermonters, in a poll last May, supported this measure.
And this law shouldn’t affect lawful gun owners. In fact, 77 percent of Vermont gun owners polled support it.
This is a gun-safety measure that will help protect all of us, including our kids, from violent people with illegal guns.
I’m glad for it, and hope you will be too.
If you are, tell your state senators.
For more information, you can go to “Gunsense” online.
Anna Rose Benson
Weybridge