Most Vermonters, including gun owners, want tougher laws, gun-control advocates said Tuesday at a crowded Statehouse news conference.
Gun Sense Vermont President Ann Braden launched a campaign to pass a bill next session to require criminal background checks for all gun sales.
“Criminal background checks on all firearms sales is the most effective way to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people,” Braden said.
The state branch of the National Rifle Association on Tuesday said they will not take a position on the matter until they see a bill.
Braden presented results of a poll showing that 81 percent of likely voters in Vermont, including 77 percent of gun owners, support criminal background checks for all gun sales.
Vermont has among the most lenient gun laws in the country. Citizens can, for example, carry and conceal a firearm anywhere they want with just three exceptions: inside court buildings, the Statehouse and schools. In most other states, conceal and carry is illegal or regulated.
Gun Sense Vermont has hired the lobbying firm Necrason Group to help with their campaign. Washington, D.C., firm Lincoln Park Strategies conducted the poll.
Background checks will keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and drug traffickers, Braden said.
Constituents want this change, even if their voices are sometimes drowned out by a few loud voices on the opposing side, said Braden, calling on the gun lobby for its support “in fixing this broken law.”
“Vermont can take a lead that is pro-gun and pro-responsibility,” Braden said.
The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, the state arm of the National Rifle Association, said it will not take a position on the issue until a bill is drafted.
“You seriously can’t respond on something when we don’t know what’s in the bill,” spokesman Evan Hughes said. “The Federation is not an impulsive and impetuous group.”
The Federation will meet with its member groups between now and January to form an opinion, Hughes said.
“I don’t think the Federation is going to have a lot of member clubs clamoring for such a bill,” he said.
The news conference also included speeches from two gun owners and a church pastor. The law would also protect police in the line of duty, they said.
“This is not a license for criminals to buy firearms,” said Dan Mulligan, who described himself as an activist and lifelong hunter.
Asked whether background checks are merely a first step toward more stringent gun control laws in the future, Braden said looking beyond 2015 is premature.
Gun Sense Vermont supports three gun-related charter changes passed by the city of Burlington this year, she said. The Legislature put off approving those changes this session.
Attempts at passing gun control legislation in recent years have failed. An attempt this session to require safer storage of firearms belonging to alleged domestic abusers looks likely to pass but also ignited a gun control debate.
“I am heartened by the fact that we are able to talk about this,” said Rep. Linda Waite-Simpson, D-Essex, a chief proponent of failed gun legislation last session.
Given the poll results, Waite-Simpson said, it should be hard to argue this is not something Vermonters support. But gun rights groups can be vocal and intimidating, she said from personal experience.
“It is hard to stand up to people who are loud and calling you names and telling you they’re going to get you out of office,” Waite-Simpson said.
Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn, whose department would likely oversee the background check, said he had not examined the proposal in enough detail to comment.
