Editorial

Leave Gun Laws Alone

By Jamie Pierson

I feel that there very few changes that need to be made to the Vermont State gun laws. Vermont is the second safest state in the USA to live. If that is true then don’t you think the gun laws are doing their job? Gun Laws in Vermont protect our second amendment right to bear arms, but some added restrictions would be appropriate and the current gun laws have proven successful.

Gun laws in Vermont should not be more restrictive so we can protect the right of self defense as well as recreation. An individual has the right to self defense. If that individual has a gun in his/her home, then that gun serves as a great self defense mechanism. If that individual does not have a gun on them because maybe committed a small crime earlier in life then don’t you think that is unfair to them since they have the right to self defense? I do, you should be able to have a second chance at being responsible with a gun if you just messed up a little early in life. Another reason why more gun restrictions would not be a good thing is that it could prevent people from accessory to a gun for hunting (recreational) purposes only. Nobody should be prevented from doing something that is just a hobby. I think the only circumstance where that would be unacceptable would be if someone was a felon, which would be a good reason for them to not be able to purchase a gun at all. If guns are fairly easily accessible to the general public, it has been proven that criminals are less likely to commit a crime with people around because they fear that a bystander or the victim may have a firearm and will be able to defend themselves and one another. These are all reasons why gun laws in Vermont should not be more restrictive. It would take away some of our basic rights and that would be unconstitutional.

Gun laws in Vermont should also not be less restrictive because our society needs to limit access to weapons to people who may not be ready for them. The college age 18-24 is the point in an individual’s life where they are most volatile, and most likely to commit a gun related crime in their life. If it too easy to purchase a hand gun then it seems reasonable to assume that more college students would purchase handguns and since there is no law about taking any sort of gun safety course for just purchasing a handgun then some pretty uneducated, volatile college students would be walking around with guns. A restriction that should be added in my mind is that in order to purchase a handgun, an individual must take a handgun safety course, or at the very least a hunter safety course. This would definitely eliminate misfire accidents and other accidents relating to people not knowing how to use a gun. Since Vermont already has very lax gun laws am convinced there would most definitely be more gun related crimes in Vermont if we lowered the gun restriction laws even more in Vermont.

Current Vermont gun laws have proven to be successful in the recent years. Vermont has the least amount of gun related crimes on average out of all fifty states, and the second least crime rate in the US. In my mind that does not suggest that change needs to occur in that category. Why change laws that are proving successful in the recent years? I can see a few minor changes being made to prevent accidental gun crimes, but there is definitely no reason for the Vermont State gun laws to be more restrictive or more unrestrictive. The gun restrictions in Vermont are right where they need to be. They aren’t so unrestrictive that any old Joe can just go out and buy a pistol at the sporting good store in town, but they aren’t so restrictive that a man looking to buy a handgun to keep in house for safety in case of a burglary can’t get that gun, when all he wants to do is use the firearm to enforce his second amendment rights and use it to protect himself. I think it’s a very fair statement to say that the Vermont state gun laws are doing their job, seeing that Vermont has the lowest gun related crime rate in the US.

I believe Vermont has the most effective gun laws for their state in the US. I think all states should take a look at Vermont’s gun restrictions and see if they can try and mock our (Vermont’s) gun laws, but in a way that fits their state population-wise, and criminally. I feel like this would help solve some of the problems states are having with unhappy citizens about their right to bear arms. Since Vermont’s gun laws are what I think to be just right, and the vast majority of residents of this state are pleased with their ability to support their right to bear arms, so you would think if states mocked our laws then it would make a lot of these unhappy civilians more pleased. Overall I am very pleased with how the Vermont laws give the people their right to bear arms, and how they have proved to limit gun related crimes in the last decade. I feel that there are no major changes that need to be made to the Vermont gun laws, if anything some minor changes to educate Vermont more on how to use a gun before you are able to purchase one so that unintentional gun accidents are reduced.