In October 2020, when Vermonters learned that Slate Ridge, a paramilitary training facility, had been operating in a remote part of Rutland County, a reporter asked Gov. Phil Scott why the state hadn’t shut down the operation.
Scott answered that there was little state law enforcement could do. The facility’s operators hadn’t violated any state laws.
A bill introduced last week by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, would grant the state new authority to intervene in such cases by banning paramilitary training camps in Vermont.
“No one can say, well, we don’t have this problem in Vermont,” Baruth said, “because Slate Ridge has been a problem for a while now.”
Daniel Banyai, the facility’s owner and operator, for years posted to his public social media accounts that he had been stockpiling weapons and ammunition while providing paramilitary-style training to members of local militias and other locals.
Neighbors reported that Banyai and his supporters had threatened them and posted their residential and business addresses publicly on Facebook and other accounts. One neighbor obtained a stalking order against him.
“When Slate Ridge came along, and the administration looked at all of the tools they had and said, ‘We can’t shut this down’ — it took an Environmental Court to shut Slate Ridge down,” Baruth said.
Pawlet town officials took Slate Ridge to court, arguing that the facility violated local zoning ordinances. Both the state’s Environmental Court and the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in their favor.
The fact that the Environmental Court was neighbors’ only avenue to intervene “struck me as really a bad look out for us in Vermont,” Baruth said. “So this is designed to start a conversation about how we can regulate in this area.”
While Baruth said the bill he wrote, S.3, would likely need to be tweaked by lawmakers — it’s currently before the Senate Judiciary Committee — the concept is straightforward.
“A person shall not own or operate a paramilitary training camp or facility in the State of Vermont,” the bill states. “A person who violates this subsection shall be imprisoned for not more than one year or fined not more than $1,000.00, or both.”
The bill would not include recreational shooting ranges, safety courses approved by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, or training conducted by state and federal agencies.
“We’re after that more dangerous, people-focused training with real weapons,” Baruth said.
Baruth said he introduced the same bill last session, but leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee declined to consider it.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, who chairs the committee, said he couldn’t remember why he didn’t take up the bill last session.
While he plans “to take a look at that bill and many others” this session, Sears said he wasn’t sure yet whether it will be a priority. Slate Ridge is near but just outside the Senate district Sears represents, and he said he has spoken with residents who have been concerned.
“It went through a lot of processes with the Environmental Court and so forth,” Sears said. “It’s certainly an issue that deserves to be looked at.”
Given the increased activity among extremist militia organizations nationwide throughout the last several years, Baruth is concerned that people watching the ongoing case with Slate Ridge could conclude that Vermont is a hospitable place for paramilitary facilities.
While Baruth isn’t seeking to regulate recreational activities such as hunting or target shooting, “when they turn those guns on other people, then we have a right to regulate,” he said.
“Training them to turn them on other people — which is what a paramilitary camp is designed to do — that should be clearly outside the law,” Baruth said. “And there should be a lever for the administration to pull when they get complaints like they did with Slate Ridge.”
Baruth said he doesn’t know whether other states have similar laws in place, but lawmakers would take a close look to see if other models would work better than what’s proposed in the bill’s current structure.