On Thursday, April 6th, the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee will be hearing H230, “an act relating to implementing mechanisms to reduce suicide.” This dangerous anti-gun bill violates Vermont citizens’ Second Amendment rights by implementing a slew of anti-gun laws. This bill includes a laundry list of gun control measures including “Red Flag” laws, mandatory 72-hour waiting periods, and “safe storage” laws.
NRA members and Second Amendment supporters are urged to contact committee members and request that they oppose all anti-gun measures. Please contact committee members NOW and ask them to OPPOSE ALL anti-gun bills that would place further burdens on law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen!
- H230 implements “Red Flag” laws, or Emergency Risk Protection Orders, that are designed to empower the government to confiscate Americans’ firearms without due process of law. Aside from allowing run-of-the-mill malicious actors to indulge personal grudges against law-abiding gun owners, in the current politically-charged environment these laws enable the government to target those with First Amendment-protected political views the government disfavors.
- H230 delays Second Amendment rights by imposing a three-day waiting period before an individual may receive a firearm that they lawfully purchase. There is no evidence that waiting periods reduce violent crime or suicide. Instead, this simply denies someone the ability to buy a firearm for urgent self-defense.
- H230 includes “safe storage” laws aimed at implementing a top-down government mandate telling you how to store your firearms. While we support storing firearms in a responsible manner, we do not support top-down one-size-fits-all government mandate. As NRA’s safety materials explain, “Many factors must be considered when deciding where and how to store guns. A person's particular situation will be a major part of the consideration.”
Again, please contact Vermont committee members and urge them to OPPOSE any and all anti-gun measures that will do nothing to reduce violent crime in Vermont, and will only burden law-abiding citizens!