Rep. Linda Waite-Simpson is back at it again. The lawmaker from Essex tried for two years to pass a gun safety law out of committee in the last biennium after one of her teenage constituents was killed in a gun incident. That time around, Waite-Simpson simply wanted to require gun owners to store their guns safely.
In this round, Waite-Simpson, who has become well-versed in every facet of the complex gun restriction kaleidoscope over the last several years and took up target practice to better understand the sport, is pushing for a much more sweeping piece of legislation that would effectively enforce federal laws already on the books. (A gun safety proposal is still in the works, however, and will be sponsored by Rep. Allison Clark.)
The legislation, H.124, does not ban semi-automatic weapons like the proposal Sen. Philip Baruth withdrew from the Senate last week. It does, however, restrict the manufacture, distribution and purchase of ammunition magazines with more than 10 rounds.
Her proposal, which is backed by one independent (Rep. Adam Greshin, I-Moretown) and 10 Democrats, includes five additional elements:
• Closing the so-called gun show “loophole.” Forty percent of all guns are sold at shows where background checks are not required, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The measure would require instant background checks for all firearm purchases at gun shows.
• Giving local law enforcement the authority to enforce federal gun restrictions. Because Vermont has no “mirror” statutes on the books, federal laws that prohibit gun ownership by convicted felons, domestic violence perpetrators and forensic mental health patients cannot be enforced by state police or local police departments. As a result, local law enforcement officials have to call federal agents in to apprehend suspects who illegally possess firearms, and there are too few federal officers to keep up with the issue.
• Requiring the Department of Mental Health to report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
• Mandating a gun safety course for individuals carrying concealed firearms.
• Repealing the prohibition on gun silencers in the state of Vermont.
Waite-Simpson has taken a lot of heat from the National Rifle Association for her attempt to pass a gun safety law, but that hasn’t deterred her from working with gun clubs and local gun advocates to attempt to find a middle way on some restrictions.
After the Newtown, Conn., shooting in which 26 people died, 20 of them small children, Waite-Simpson was motivated again, with the support of key lawmakers, including Greshin, to stick her neck out on an issue she believes the state must have a conversation about.
Waite-Simpson said she tried to find some common ground with the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, which is affiliated with the NRA, but it’s been difficult as Evan Hughes and other leaders of the group don’t want to see any restrictions, including state laws that would mirror federal statutes.
Hughes, in an interview with VTDigger earlier this month, reiterated that stance. “That’s been the practice in the past, to fight any changes to existing law in Vermont,” he said. Instead of new regulations, he urges the state to invest more money in the mental health system and hunter safety training for children as the best way to prevent shootings like the one that occurred in Newtown and teen suicides. Vermont has the highest teen suicide rate in the country, according to Child Safe Vermont, a gun safety advocacy group.
Vermont has among the most liberal gun laws in the country. The state is ranked among the worst five states for gun violence protection, according to the Law Center for Prevention of Gun Violence. The state allows concealed weapons and there are no restrictions on use with the exception of a prohibition on silencers and use of guns on school and state grounds. Anyone 16 or older can purchase a gun, though buyers are supposed to volunteer information about a history of mental illness.
Waite-Simpson has maneuvered carefully, looking to find areas of potential compromise. Local law enforcement, for example, support all but the magazine restriction. This is the only new provision in the proposal that isn’t currently backed by federal law, although restrictions on that front could be on the way: President Barack Obama has proposed restrictions on the sale of semi-automatic weapons and large magazine clips.
“This is really about enforcing what we have right now,” Waite-Simpson said. “If we can’t do that, it doesn’t make sense to start adding laws.”
The state Department of Mental Health, for example, she says, has “never reported a single name to the NICS database.” Only 12 states are in compliance with the federal requirement for reporting forensic mental health patients to the database.
Law enforcement has been asking for a state statute to ban felons from owning guns or many years. In October, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns recommended the change as part of its formal legislative policy statement. “Why would we not want to enforce that locally,” Waite-Simpson said.
As it stands now, local police can’t apprehend convicted felons or domestic violence perpetrators who illegally possess guns. Only federal agents can charge suspects in such cases.
Trevor Whipple, the chief of the South Burlington Police Department, said his officers’ hands are tied. “It is frustrating to law enforcement on a state level,” Whipple said. “We’re somewhat limited as to what we can do with charging folks in possession of a firearm.”
He explained that police can’t detain convicted felons who possess a weapon if they haven’t committed a crime, because there is no law on the state books that prohibits felons from owning a gun, and there is a limit to how long they can detain a suspect for federal agents. The federal agencies — the FBI and ATF — don’t have the resources to apprehend suspects detained by local police, he said. The ATF, for example, has four agents in Vermont.
Whipple supports the mirror law concept. “It would be helpful to have a mechanism to hold folks accountable,” he said. “Law enforcement should have the ability to address that.”
Greshin signed onto the bill because he was upset with the NRA’s response to the Newtown, Conn., killings.
Wayne Lapierre, a vice president for the pro-gun group, told Congress at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on Wednesday that the NRA is “not to blame.”
It’s just this kind of response that has irked Greshin. “I am fatigued by the turning-the-other-cheek method,” Greshin said. “Every time there is a calamity, I get even more tired about hearing from the gun lobby and manufacturers that every problem is not theirs. They suggest it’s a mental health issue, school safety.
“The correspondence I have received is predominately, if not exclusively, focused on my rights my ability, me, me, I, I, — never is the focus on societal rights and there’s never an admission that we live in a larger world,” he said.
Greshin says Vermont’s lax laws could be contributing to gun trafficking to neighboring states that have gun restrictions.
“We live in a world in which interstate commerce occurs,” Greshin said. “I don’t want to risk being the firearms capital of the Northeast. We have porous borders. People are constantly moving to and fro. It’s not appropriate to say in Vermont we don’t have a problem.”
But Evan Hughes, of the Vermont Federation of Sports Clubs, argues exactly that point: Vermont doesn’t have a problem. Gun violence here, where restrictions are few, is nominal, in part he says, because the state doesn’t have restrictions.
Hughes says creating state laws that would mirror federal statutes would tie up state law enforcement and court resources.
“We have the ATF already, why take precious state dollars?” Hughes said. “We’ve got so few state dollars that are stretched so thin now it doesn’t make sense.”
The Vermont Legislature has historically bowed to pressure from the NRA and Vermont gun owners, as evidenced by Baruth’s unwillingness to move ahead with a gun control bill in the face of a less than enthusiastic Democratic caucus last week. Hughes estimates that 50 percent of Vermont households own firearms.
House Speaker Shap Smith, who has a 92 percent rating from the NRA, says he won’t stand in the way of Waite-Simpson’s bill, H.124. He also said in an interview that he supports state statutes that mirror federal regulations.
Lindsay Nichols, a lawyer with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, says the nation’s political mood on the subject of gun control is changing.
“The myth that the NRA and the NRA lobby and NRA money controls outcomes of elections is just a myth,” Nichols said. “It goes back over a decade and is really of no relevance at this point. The legislature needs to look beyond that to support their positions, they need to look beyond the endorsement or lack of endorsement from the NRA. Any lawmaker with a bad rating from the NRA should be proud of themselves standing up to that kind lobbying.”
Gov. Peter Shumlin has a 92 percent rating from the NRA, as well. He has said he would not support a ban on semi-automatic weapons like the ones used in the Newtown shooting.
For a rundown on where key politicos stand with the NRA, read Seven Days columnist Paul Heintz’s story on the subject.
Waite-Simpson is holding a press conference at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the Cedar Creek Room on H.124 and a companion bill that would create a safe storage facility for confiscated guns. The press conference will be followed by a gun review for lawmakers, held by the Capitol Police in Room 10.
The sponsors of the bill include: Waite-Simpson, Greshin, Clarkson, Rep. Michael Mrowicki, Rep. Janet Ancel, Rep. Joanna Cole, Rep. George Cross, Rep. David Deen, Rep. Tom Stevens, Rep. Kesha Ram, Rep. Cynthia Martin, and Rep. Mike Yantachka.
