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Lawmakers consider gun control bills

VERGENNES — The national and statewide debate about gun control reverberated to America’s littlest city on Monday, as local lawmakers and Vergennes-area residents talked about potential laws that could expand background checks and provide for confiscation of firearms from citizens the court deems should not possess deadly weapons.
Gun control emerged as the main topic at the legislative breakfast at the St. Peter’s Catholic Church parish hall, spurred by the fatal shooting on Feb. 14 of 17 staff and students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Schoolin Parkland, Fla., and the arrest of a Poultney teen last month in connection with the threat of a mass shooting at Fair Haven Union High School.
Sen. Christopher Bray, D-New Haven, said there are now three bills in the Senate relating to gun safety. None had reached the Senate floor as of Monday, according to Bray. The three bills are:
•  S.221, which would allow a police officer to obtain an “extreme risk protection order” that would prohibit a person from possessing a firearm for up to one year if the Family Division of the Superior Court finds by “clear and convincing evidence” that the person poses a significant danger of causing injury to himself or herself or another person by purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm.
•  S.6. Proposes to require abackground check on the proposed purchaser of a firearm, unless the transfer is between immediate family members,by or to a law enforcement agency, or by or to a law enforcement officer ormember of the U.S. Armed Forces acting within the course of his or herofficial duties.
•  H.422. Proposes to require a police officer to confiscate a dangerous or deadly weapon from a person who is arrested or cited for domestic assault if the weapon is in the immediate possession or control of the person being arrested or cited, is in plain view of the officer, or is discovered during a consensual search.
Bray said the Senate was scheduled to act on the three gun safety bills by March 1.
“I support common sense gun control,” Bray said, adding he believes hunters and sports shooters should continue to have access to guns.
“We can do better at ensuring that Vermonters in general, particularly kids in school, are safer,” Bray said. “We do have existing laws and need to ensure that we enforce them as well. It’s not just about adding new laws.”
Rep. Diane Lanpher, D-Vergennes, was clearly moved in recalling two recent visits to the Statehouse of hundreds of Vermont high school students urging lawmakers to take action on gun safety. Addison County students will be participating in a March 14 walkout from their schools to bring attention to the need for gun control.
“It was a very, very powerful act, and I give them a lot of credit,” Lanpher said. “And Gov. Scott has responded to that call.”
Lanpher, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, noted Scott has asked lawmakers to find $5 million in the fiscal year 2019 state budget to make safety improvements to Vermont public schools.
Rep. Warren Van Wyck, R-Ferrisburgh, questioned why Vermont Democrats hadn’t pushed for gun control measures during the six years they held the governor’s office (under Peter Shumlin) and majorities in both the House and Senate.
On the other hand, he said Republican Gov. Phil Scott declared a willingness to consider gun safety legislation the day the FHUHS incident.
Van Wyck said he would support legislation that would allow confiscation (following due process) of guns from persons whom police and courts determine should not have access to them. Such a bill has been voted out of the Senate and is now in the House.
“It’s conceivable the House could get (the bill) out and get it to the governor’s desk by the end of this week.” Van Wyck said. “That would require a lot of speed up (in the legislative process.”
Rep. Terry Norris, I-Orwell, noted his House district includes two communities (Orwell and Benson) served by FHUHS.
Norris said he knows several people who own AR-15 rifles.
“They are perfectly legal and they use them for a lot of different things,” Norris said.
Area residents also weighed in, hoping to give lawmakers food for thought as they consider new laws during the coming days.
Addison resident Mark Boivin said he is opposed to any new laws that might weaken people’s Second Amendment rights. He said the reason the Parkland shooter perpetrated the crime at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was because it’s located in a “gun-free zone.”
“That meant it was easy targets,” Boivin said. “The reason (the shooter) was able to do that was because there was no enforcement of the laws we already have on the books. The police and the FBI had ample warning.”
Boivin criticized actor George Clooney’s decision to offer $500,000 to help student protestors spread their gun control message to Washington D.C. and beyond.
“The culture comes from the First Amendment people that do all these movies, videos and everything else,” Boivin said. “If we’re going to limit the Second Amendment, we should be looking to limit the violence that is in the movies and the video games.”
Middlebury resident Margaret Klohch said new laws should not target Vermont hunters, the majority of whom she said deserve credit for using their firearms responsibly and keeping them under lock and key. But she called semi-automatic weapons, such as the AR-15, the “elephant in the room.”
“It is not meant for hunting,” she said of the AR-15. “It is not to anyone’s benefit to have one unless they want to kill people.”
She criticized President Donald Trump’s suggestion that some classroom teachers be armed.
“I think is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard,” Klohch said. “What is one teacher, with a hidden gun in their pocket, going to do against somebody that comes in the room with an AR-15? It’s like a pea-shooter. They’re not going to even get a chance to take it out of their pocket.”
Jim Papagni is a former U.S. Department of Defense worker who said he retired to Ferrisburgh after learning Vermont was the second-safest state in the union. He doesn’t believe gun laws should be weakened and said a semi-automatic weapon can be a useful tool even in rural Vermont, where he said a single-shot firearm will not bring down a nuisance bear. Papagni added he’s seen a mountain lion in his back yard and said there are some 90-pound, cross-breed coyotes in Ferrisburgh.
“You’ve got to remember there’s different needs for self-defense,” Papagni said. “And yes, an open discussion needs to be had on what’s going on, but that open discussion needs to be made on an educated, intelligent level, not the types of discussions where it’s all emotion.”
Weybridge resident Spence Putnam called gun control “the third rail of politics,” and praised lawmakers for taking on the issue this session.
“It takes a great deal of courage to stand up and talk about gun safety legislation,” Putnam said.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].

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