by John McClaughry
The gun control people are back again in Montpelier, with their annual bill to make people believe they’re doing something to counter gun violence.
This year’s offering is Senate bill 6. Its six sponsors are Senators Phil Baruth, Debbie Ingram, Chris Pearson, and Michael Sirotkin, all of Burlington, plus Dick McCormack and Alison Clarkson from Windsor County. All are either Progs or Democrats.
This year’s version requires that Uncle Bob, who wants to gift his old .22 to nephew Jimmy for his birthday, must go to a Federal Firearms Licensed dealer and undergo a National background check, for which he’ll pay $40 or $50.
By contrast, gangbangers and drug dealers will not get anywhere near a federal firearms dealer when they need more lethal hardware. They can’t pass the background check, and they know that even an attempt to pass it is another felony offense. They find what they need on the street, and they get it by cash, drugs, or larceny.
The problem with the universal background check is not so much that it won’t do any good, especially in Vermont, but that when it’s clear that it didn’t do any good, the anti-gun people, financed by Michael Bloomberg’s inexhaustible millions, will show up to demand that all firearms be registered, and then they would be a giant step closer to their ultimate goal of allowing guns only to people licensed by the government.
– John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Good going John. These people and Bloomberg need a lesson in the constitution and what kind of backlash they will get in these attempts to take away our right.
Gun violence? What gun violence? If these clowns would spend quality time trying to address the real issues such as jobs, drug addiction, high cost of education, flight of our youth, unfavorable business climate plus items I’m sure to have overlooked, then maybe they can waste time on their non issue, gun control. Never happen.
Issue every child, born in Vermont, a handgun at birth. Hold it in escrow, until they are 14-16 y-o-a, and take a firearms training course. Allow them to temporarily take it out of escrow at 9-13 y-o-a for training, or just fun, for short periods of time. Any misdemeanors, or mental problems, would return the weapon to the newborn pool, permanently.