| EDDIE CUTLER |
| 2nd Amendment Stance: STRONG PRO 2A |
District: Windham 4
(Vote for 2) |
| Contest: For State Representative |
| Party: Republican |
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2016 Gun Owners of Vermont Firearm Questionnaire
(Click Score to View Responses)
Questionnaire Score: 100% |
2016: 2nd Amendment Stance, Legislative Action and Voting History:
STRONG PRO 2A |
2014: 2nd Amendment Stance, Legislative Action and Voting History:
STRONG PRO 2A |
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Additional Comments: Eddie is the President of Gun Owners of Vermont.
2016 GoVT Questionnaire Score: 100%
Responded "NO" to Gun Sense Vermont when asked if they support Universal Background Checks!
2016 NRA Rating: A! (NRA Endorsed!) |
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Mailing Address:
1644 ROUTE 121
WESTMINSTER, VT 05158
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| Phone Number: (802) 463-9026 |
| Send Email to EDDIE CUTLER: EDDIE.CUTLER@YAHOO.COM |
| Click Here for Facebook Page |
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7/20/2016: 'Nothing Wrong' With Guns
Eddie Cutler
Gun rights advocate, Republican
District: Windham 4 (Dummerston, Putney, Westminster)
Other candidates: Bonnie DePino, Republican; Rep. David Deen (D-Westminster); and Rep. Mike Mrowicki (D-Putney)
click to enlarge Eddie Cutler - SEAN METCALF sean metcalf
Eddie Cutler
Eddie Cutler is a longtime member of Perkinsville's Precision Valley Fish & Game Association. Years ago, he offered to monitor legislative activity on gun and hunting issues for the club. That involved reading Statehouse news reports and delivering quick briefings at the club's monthly meetings.
But as time passed, Cutler came to believe more should be done. A champion target shooter, the 64-year-old East Dorset native said he believed that gun owners were unfairly stigmatized every time a high-profile act of violence made the news.
"I never mentioned that I shot guns. I came to realize, I've been handling firearms since I was 8 or 9 and I've never done any violence — what was I ashamed of?" said Cutler, who now lives in Westminster. "I was really proud of my accomplishments. [I wanted to] say, 'Look, there's nothing wrong with this stuff.'"
In 1996, Cutler and some friends gathered in his living room and founded Gun Owners of Vermont. It now claims 4,000 members and is "dedicated to a no-compromise position against gun control," according to the group's website. Cutler began making regular treks to Montpelier to attend hearings and jawbone with lawmakers.
This past session, Gun Owners of Vermont and other organizations successfully lobbied against state bills that would have required background checks for all firearms purchases, banned the use of lead ammunition in hunting and allowed Burlington to implement charter changes restricting firearms use. The group also helped defeat a bill that would have prevented the sale of ivory in Vermont because it adorns some high-end vintage handguns and rifles.
But Cutler said he has grown increasingly frustrated by the limits placed on him as a lobbyist. Hearings on the ivory bill were particularly galling, he said, because he had no way of contesting other speakers' remarks.
"There were a lot of misstatements, and I couldn't come out and say, 'You're wrong,'" Cutler said. "But if I'm on the other side of the table, I can get more into that."
So a few weeks after the session ended, Cutler did something that surprised many who know him. He declared his candidacy.
Campaigning doesn't always feel natural.
It's hard, he said, "to walk up to somebody and say, 'Hi, I'm Eddie Cutler, and I'm running for office, and what are your concerns?'" He added: "When I deal with my people, I know where they're at. These are strangers, and it's hard to come up with some kind of conversation."
Bill #1 |
10/21/16: "I'm a strong constitutionalist who doesn't want to shove his ideas down other people's throats," Cutler said.
Cutler, as a leader of Gun Owners of Vermont, fought against S.141.
Source #1 |
10/10/2016: Eddie Cutler is endorsed by Gun Owners of America!
Great write-up for Eddie & Bonnie!
Source #2 |
10/2016: Eddie Cutler is endorsed by the NRA!
Source #3 |
7/20/2016: 'Nothing Wrong' With Guns
Eddie Cutler Gun rights advocate, Republican
District: Windham 4 (Dummerston, Putney, Westminster)
Other candidates: Bonnie DePino, Republican [PRO-GUN]; Rep. David Deen (D-Westminster) [ANTI-GUN]; and Rep. Mike Mrowicki (D-Putney) [ANTI-GUN]
Eddie Cutler is a longtime member of Perkinsville's Precision Valley Fish & Game Association. Years ago, he offered to monitor legislative activity on gun and hunting issues for the club. That involved reading Statehouse news reports and delivering quick briefings at the club's monthly meetings.
But as time passed, Cutler came to believe more should be done. A champion target shooter, the 64-year-old East Dorset native said he believed that gun owners were unfairly stigmatized every time a high-profile act of violence made the news.
"I never mentioned that I shot guns. I came to realize, I've been handling firearms since I was 8 or 9 and I've never done any violence — what was I ashamed of?" said Cutler, who now lives in Westminster. "I was really proud of my accomplishments. [I wanted to] say, 'Look, there's nothing wrong with this stuff.'"
In 1996, Cutler and some friends gathered in his living room and founded Gun Owners of Vermont. It now claims 4,000 members and is "dedicated to a no-compromise position against gun control," according to the group's website. Cutler began making regular treks to Montpelier to attend hearings and jawbone with lawmakers.
This past session, Gun Owners of Vermont and other organizations successfully lobbied against state bills that would have required background checks for all firearms purchases, banned the use of lead ammunition in hunting and allowed Burlington to implement charter changes restricting firearms use. The group also helped defeat a bill that would have prevented the sale of ivory in Vermont because it adorns some high-end vintage handguns and rifles.
But Cutler said he has grown increasingly frustrated by the limits placed on him as a lobbyist. Hearings on the ivory bill were particularly galling, he said, because he had no way of contesting other speakers' remarks.
"There were a lot of misstatements, and I couldn't come out and say, 'You're wrong,'" Cutler said. "But if I'm on the other side of the table, I can get more into that."
So a few weeks after the session ended, Cutler did something that surprised many who know him. He declared his candidacy."
Source #4 |
6/15/2016: Ed Cutler, president of Gun Owners of Vermont, said restricting Vermonters’ rights following a terrorist attack is a quick way to lose an election.
“Sue Minter, or anybody else that’s running on the gun control issue, isn’t going to make it in this state,” he said. Cutler added that he was impressed by the response to Orlando coming from Republican candidates.
“I’m overjoyed that Phil Scott and Bruce Lisman are standing with us. It shows real true Vermont common sense,” he said.
Cutler said his group would include Minter’s response to the attack in its election report and voter guide ahead of November.
Cutler also took issue with politicians pivoting from terror attacks to meddling with Vermonters’ Article 16 “right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State.”
“They’re not blaming it on the person or the gun-free zone — they’re blaming it on the firearm,” he said.
Cutler argues things could have been different if the Pulse nightclub in Orlando wasn’t a gun-free zone. In Florida, state law prohibits concealed carry license holders from carrying guns in establishments that serve alcohol. Cutler said the “gun free” areas are respected by law-abiding citizens but ignored by criminals.
“Every person in that place was absolutely defenseless, and that’s the most disgusting part,” Cutler said.
He blamed gun control groups for turning citizens into sitting ducks when terrorists and other dangerous individuals strike.
“They’re more responsible for this than anybody else because they’re the ones that pushed that law through. They tried it up here with the Burlington charter changes,” Cutler said. “This is not political — this isn’t rhetoric. This is what happens when you make gun-free zones.”
Source #5 |
7/7/16: Letter to the editor: Remember gun rights in November
Source #6 |
6/23/2016: Another aspect of Vermont that Cutler loved was its lack of gun laws. Changes in the Legislature led him to take a stand and around 1997, he co-founded a club called Gun Owners of Vermont, a non-partisan pro-gun organization committed to a no-compromise position on firearms ownership rights.
Eddie Cutler, a Republican from Westminster, is seeking election to the Windham 4 District.
"Vermont is the safest state in the country, lowest murder rate, lowest violent crime rate, with people in the State House who want to confiscate all types of firearms," Cutler said.
He went on to note the Ivory Bill, which bans the sale of ivory. Cutler said this legislation also banned lead bullets for hunting. He noted that Deen and Mrowicki approved of that bill, but Cutler argues that every bullet has lead in it and there is no other option. Mrowicki, the chief presenter on the Ivory Bill, said it was passed to protect children from lead in the environment.
Both Cutler and DePino are retired and if elected are determined to change the atmosphere at the State House in Montpelier. Cutler said he would love to see more input from Vermonters, particularly during committee hearings.
Source #7 |
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Copyright 2016 Gun Owners of Vermont
Last Updated: 12/15/2016 |
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