Gun-rights advocates in Vermont say the push for gun control following the Orlando terrorist attack will ensure losses for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in the November election.
This week, Vermont’s Democratic gubernatorial candidates seized upon tragedy by embracing full-throated gun control.
Sue Minter, a former transportation secretary and four-term state representative, called for “background checks for all gun sales and a ban on assault weapons.” The move came after terrorist mass shooter Omar Mateen opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and wounding at least 53 others.
Gun rights leaders on Wednesday denounced Minter for turning the attack into a campaign opportunity, saying the call to restrict Vermonters’ rights amounted to political suicide in the pro-gun state.
“If Sue Minter thinks she can become governor of Vermont by running on a platform that attacks the rights of good and decent Vermonters, then she must be walking around in Burlington talking to soccer moms and trust fund kiddies. The rest of us aren’t having that,” Eddie Garcia, founder of the Vermont Citizens Defense League, told Watchdog.
Minter, a Democrat from Waterbury, has been a consistent gun control advocate, even pledging to fight the National Rifle Association at her party’s state convention last month. The rhetoric runs counter to mainstream gun politics in Vermont, which skew heavily toward unrestricted Second Amendment gun freedom.
Mateen reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS in a 911 call during the attack, and FBI director James Comey said the killer likely received “inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations.”
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.
Minter did not return Watchdog’s requests for an interview.
Launching gun-control campaigns after mass shootings is a tactic that goes back at least to the 1990s, when a mass shooting killed 13 people and injured 21 others at Columbine High School in Colorado. Politicians used the tactic following the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when a deranged 20-year-old killed 26 students and staff.
The difference with the current campaign is that it follows a terrorist attack, one nearly identical to the Bataclan theater massacre in Paris, France. Unlike the United States, France is a country where terrorists get access to weapons despite prohibitive gun laws.
Garcia strongly denounced the politicization of mass shootings.
“I think people that stand on the graves of the dead and write their agenda in the blood of innocent murdered people before the ink is even dry are disgusting,” he said. “Sue Minter wasted no time to declare her agenda against the rights of law-abiding Vermonters and write it in blood before these bodies in Orlando are even cold.”
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.”
Contact Bruce Parker at bparker@watchdog.org.
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