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A judge has told attorneys in the legal fight over the constitutionality of the high-capacity magazine ban that went into effect in Vermont late last year to be ready for trial in November.

Judge Mary Miles Teachout laid out a schedule Tuesday in Washington County Superior civil court for the case going forward.

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It was the first hearing since her ruling last month that rejected bids by both sides to short-circuit a trial and grant motions ending the case in their favor.

Attorneys for the gun owners and sellers took part in the hearing Tuesday via phone. Lawyers for the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, representing the state, did not attend the hearing.

Benjamin Battles, the solicitor general for the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, said an in email later Tuesday that his office had a “scheduling mixup, and the attorney covering today’s hearing had the time wrong.”

He added, “We have apologized to the court.”

David Thompson, the managing partner of a Washington, D.C., law firm, Cooper & Kirk, which has a history of representing the National Rifle Association, did not object during the hearing Tuesday to the judge’s proposed schedule.

The hearing lasted less than 5 minutes, with the judge presenting deadlines for filings in the case and telling the attorneys to be trial ready by November, the same deadline she gave lawyers in the case to file summary judgment motions.

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“I will allow summary judgment motions to be filed,” the judge said Tuesday.

“As you know from the decision that I wrote, the facts presented on both sides — on the defendants’ motion to dismiss and the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment — were primarily legislative facts as opposed to specific facts,” Teachout added. “So that process hasn’t been heard yet.”

Teachout said she would give both sides until Nov. 11 to file new summary judgment motions “and then we’ll be trial ready.”

In her March ruling, Teachout denied a motion brought by the state to throw out the case. The state contended the gun owners and sellers lacked the legal standing to challenge the magazine ban’s constitutionality.

In the same decision, the judge rejected a summary judgment request from the attorneys from the gun owners and sellers. They contended the facts of the case alone merited a ruling that the ban is unconstitutional.

“Both parties would have the court rule on their arguments without a factual record meaningfully tested by the adversarial process. The court declines to do so,” Teachout wrote in her ruling.

“A factual record developed by the adversarial method will provide a firm foundation for resolution of the important legal issue presented by this case,” the judge added.

Among the defendants in the case are Vermont State Police Col. Matthew Birmingham, Attorney General TJ Donovan, Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George and Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill.

The new law bans the sale, possession or transfer of long-gun magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds and handgun magazines with a capacity greater than 15 rounds. Magazines possessed before Oct. 1, 2018, are allowed.

The legal challenge was filed shortly after Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed the provision into law in April.

The bill, S.55, which passed last session includes the provision setting the magazine limits for guns.That bill also increased the age to purchase a firearm to 21, expands background checks to private sales, and bans bump stock rapid-firing devices.

The lawsuit only challenges the magazine provision.

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