Good News

In 2008, Gun Owners of Vermont accomplished a very big victory for the State of Vermont. It was the defeat of H. 352 and S.152, "An Act Relating to Reducing Lead Hazards in Housing". This was a clever ruse by Attorney General William Sorrell to outlaw all lead in Vermont, claiming it would be for the benefit of Vermont's children. The list included wheel weights, car batteries, solder and virtually all lead products that are used in bullet casting. Never have we heard of any child eating wheel weights or taking apart car batteries to get to the lead. (We do agree with the lead paint issue, for which there are Federal laws already in place regarding the use and removal of lead paint in homes.) This bill also had a very dangerous stipulation included in it stating that if any other New England state, New Jersey or Pennsylvania adopted a lead law, then Vermont would automatically follow suit in 180 days. That means our Legislature and the people of Vermont would have no say in how our State is run. This was a very draconian move by Bill Sorrell. Fortunately, Gun Owners of Vermont was at the state house for every hearing and meeting and this terrible bill was shot down in flames. A very special acknowledgement and thanks goes to the Vermont Traditions Coalition, Greg Costa from the NSSF and Evan Hughes from the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs for sticking together and working with us to get this bill defeated. Another special thanks to the Chairperson, Anne Pugh and the Vice Chair, Anne de la Blanchetai Donahue of the Committee of Human Services for being extremely fair and straightfoward with all of us.