Gov. Phil Scott signed S.3 into law Monday morning, making paramilitary training illegal in Vermont.
Under the new law, a person cannot teach others to use or make firearms or explosives capable of causing injury or death, or teach techniques that could cause injury or death, if the person knows or should know that the activity “is intended to be used in or in furtherance of a civil disorder.”
The bill also prohibits people from assembling for the purpose of learning how to make or use firearms or techniques that further civil disorder.
A person who violates the law could be imprisoned for up to five years and fined up to $50,000.
The law gives the attorney general or a state’s attorney authority to bring immediate action to restrain the activity if it’s in the interest of the public good.
Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, introduced the bill, in part because of the state’s inability to stop activity at Slate Ridge, a paramilitary training facility in West Pawlet.
The owner of Slate Ridge, Daniel Banyai, allegedly harassed and threatened neighbors and hosted militia groups on the property while teaching classes that focused on “professional gunfighting.” Neighbors reported hearing rapid gunfire and explosions, and Banyai posted many of the facility’s activities on its public social media accounts, which have since been deactivated.
Banyai also publicly posted information, such as home and work addresses, about neighbors, local officials and people who spoke out against his operation.
Still, after news broke of Slate Ridge’s activities and neighbors’ fear, Scott said the state’s hands were tied — Banyai had not broken state laws.
In a yearslong process that has yet to completely shutter the facility, town officials in Pawlet have won a case against Banyai in the state’s Environmental Court. A judge ruled earlier this year that Banyai is in contempt of court.
The new law, Baruth has argued, would give the state a more direct and impactful tool to intervene.
“I’m delighted that the governor signed it,” Baruth said Monday morning. “And I think it represents the broad constituency that we heard in committee of people, both inside and outside the statehouse, who want this sort of paramilitary activity nipped in the bud and stopped in its tracks. You know, the situation at Slate Ridge has gone on far too long.”
Scott said he appreciated the Legislature “for effectively balancing civil liberty considerations and public safety concerns” in the bill.
Some Second Amendment advocates did not object to the bill because of its narrow focus on paramilitary operations.
“It’s difficult to see any Second Amendment issue here,” Chris Bradley, a gun rights lobbyist and president of the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, told senators while testifying about the bill in February.
The law explicitly states that it does not cover law enforcement activity; lawful instruction of military science at educational institutions; and facilities and programs intended to teach the safe handling of firearms and lawful sports and activities, such as hunting, target shooting, self defense and firearms collection.
Activities that are “undertaken without knowledge of or intent to cause or further a civil disorder that is intended to teach or practice self-defense or self defense techniques, including karate clubs, self-defense clinics, and similar lawful activity” are also not affected by the law, according to its text.
The law is “specifically built around people who are training others to create civil disorder, or people who are accepting training in the creation of civil disorder, so Second Amendment folks were either supportive or silent on the bill for that reason,” Baruth said.
Baruth has expressed concern that other organizations could follow the lead of Slate Ridge, and that Vermont could become a hotspot for paramilitary training activity. Asked whether the new law is strong enough to prevent such activity, Baruth said, “we’ll see.”
He said giving the attorney general or state’s attorney the power to immediately shut an operation down is “very valuable.”
“What we’ll do is watch this very closely,” he said. “If it turns out that the teeth of this bill are not strong enough or sharp enough, we will come back to it another year.”
Similar laws already exist in 25 other states. It’s important, Baruth said, for all 50 states to indicate “where they are at this moment in time on this kind of activity.”
“We’re in a different world than we were in even five or 10 years ago, and there are forces looking to destabilize civil society. We can’t deny it anymore,” he said. “So this bill is a way of saying, ‘not now, not here, not ever.’”