Derby, Clarendon and Pownal select boards all unanimously passed Sanctuary Township Status Resolutions this week. A total of 7 Vermont towns have now passed resolutions with approximately 20 more in the works. A huge thanks to everyone who got involved to make this happen, you guys rock! If you are interested in helping your town reaffirm its commitment to protecting our Article 16 / 2nd Amendment rights, GoVT wants to hear from you!

GoVT president Eric Davis testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday regarding bill H.610, a gun confiscation bill thinly disguised as a “domestic violence prevention” act. GoVT testimony focused on Section 1 of the bill which proposes to eliminate the default proceed status if the NICS background check delays a firearm purchase past the current 3-day period as provided by federal law. This clause was put into the Brady act as a safeguard against innocent people getting caught up in a never-ending bureaucratic loop where the government may deny a lawful firearm purchase indefinitely. A full transcript of our testimony is available here: http://gunownersofvermont.org/presidents-testimony-on-h-610/

Section 2 of H.610 mandates confiscation of firearms from persons subject to relief from abuse orders, prohibits defendants from occupying a residence where there are firearms present, mandates the judge ask specific questions regarding types and locations of firearms believed to be in the defendant’s possession, exempts law enforcement form any damages that occur during storage of confiscated firearms, and adds household members and medical providers to the list of people who can petition the court for an Extreme Risk Protection Order (Red Flag). GoVT was prepared to give testimony on Section 2 of the bill as well until we received notice at 4:07 PM Wednesday evening that the bill had been significantly modified. We are scheduled to give testimony again on Wednesday February 5th however we have received word that the bill has once again been altered and we are waiting on updated wording.

The Barre Gun Show will be happening this coming weekend February 8th and 9th at the Barre Auditorium. GoVT will have a booth and will be passing out information regarding current gun bills. We will also be selling tickets for our gun raffle fundraiser. This year’s gun is a CZ-92 in .45acp. Hope to see you all there.

Residents in the towns of Morgan, Poultney, Concord, Barre Town, Stamford, Westminster and West Rutland will be bringing Sanctuary Resolutions to their select boards this coming week. If you live in one of these areas, please turn out to show your support. We will put up the full schedule of dates and times on a separate post.

Eric