Vermont: Massive Gun Control Package Headed to House Judiciary Committee

Dear [Lawmaker],

As a fellow resident of Vermont, I urge you to OPPOSE H.606 in your committee.

H. 606 is a clear ploy to attack law-abiding gun owners under the guise of getting tough on gun crime. While the first two sections of the bill increase penalties for theft and possession of stolen firearms and create harsher sentences for violent felons in possession of firearms, the rest of the bill has nothing to do with getting tough on crime:

Section 3 of the bill expands the list of prohibited persons to include those who receive outpatient mental health treatment, and while individuals who are involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility would be prohibited from possessing firearms under federal law, mechanisms exist to expunge involuntary commitments, while no such mechanism exists for rights restoration for those receiving outpatient treatment for any host of reasons. At best, this bill would burden courts in Vermont; at worst, this section of the bill further stigmatizes those seeking mental health treatment.

Section 4 of the bill bans the possession of machine guns, machine gun conversion devices, and creates a completely ambiguous category called “rapid fire devices.” The bill makes no exception for machine guns legally acquired and registered under the National Firearms Act, and by creating vague categories of prohibited “devices,” the state could decide that virtually any perfectly legal, commercially available accessory “increases [a] weapon’s rate of fire or the speed at which the trigger is pulled.”

Section 5 of the bill would completely circumvent the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act and allow Vermont to sue gun manufacturers, distributors, and local gun shops out of existence, targeting everything from small Main Street family owned business all the way up to the many high-quality manufacturers in the state that employ hundreds of Vermonters.

Again, I urge you to OPPOSE H.606.

Thank you for all that you do for our state.

Sincerely,
______

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