[M]ax Misch, who came to statewide notoriety for racial harassment of former state representative Kiah Morris, has been arrested on charges of purchasing and possessing high-capacity gun magazines that were outlawed last year.
Vermont State Police announced the arrest of the 36-year-old Bennington resident in a press release Wednesday night.
“On January 25, 2019 the Vermont State Police began investigating an allegation that Max Misch had purchased large capacity ammunition feeding devices in violation of Title 13 v.s.a. 4021,” the statement said.
That law — part of a package of gun control bills signed by Gov. Phil Scott last year — says that people shall not manufacture, possess, transfer, offer for sale, purchase, receive or import large capacity ammunition feeding devices. People who owned magazines before the law took effect can legally keep them, but cannot sell or otherwise transfer the devices. The penalty for offenders is up to one year in prison, a fine of $500, or both.
The police statement says a search warrant was executed on Misch’s home on Wednesday.
“Evidence supporting the above allegation was seized,” it said.
Misch has been cited to appear in Bennington’s district court on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.
Attorney General TJ Donovan has come under heavy criticism for deciding not to prosecute Misch for his racist online harassment of Morris, who was Vermont’s only black woman in the Legislature before deciding not to run for a new term last year.
Donovan was not immediately available for comment Wednesday night.
Detective Lt. Reg Trayah, the trooper leading the investigation, said further information about why police decided to search Misch’s home or what they found there would be available at the arraignment on Thursday.
He called the attorney general’s decision to prosecute the case “unusual.”
“It’s unusual, but it’s within the Vermont attorney general’s right … especially if we are giving a second look at another case,” he said.
The attorney general stepped earlier this year in to investigate harassment and alleged threats against Morris and her husband, James Lawton. Donovan said that Morris was a “victim of racial harassment,” but that he had not found prosecutable offenses during the investigation.
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman commented on Misch’s arrest in a tweet Wednesday night.
“It turns out maybe there are ways to prosecute when there is a will to,” he wrote. “Sadly our communities of color have understood that for a long time.”
The law used to arrest Misch was the most controversial piece of a slate of gun reforms passed last year after what police and prosecutors said was an averted school shooting in Fair Haven.
A high-profile Washington, D.C., law firm has been hired by gun rights advocates to challenge the law in court.
Donovan said during drafting of the bills that the magazine restrictions would be difficult to enforce, largely due to the devices not having serial numbers, but he supported the ban on high-capacity devices.
