Baruth announced his intention on Facebook Wednesday, and he referred to the death of 23-year-old Andrew Black, an Essex resident who died in his home on December 6. Black’s mother, Alyssa Hughes Black, told WPTZ-TV that her son bought a gun late that morning and shot himself within a few hours.
In Black’s obituary, his parents urged people to “work for legislation that imposes a reasonable waiting period between firearm purchase and possession to provide a cooling off period to guard against impulsive acts of violence.”
California, Illinois and Rhode Island are among the states that have established waiting periods in law.
The issue has come up in Vermont before. In 2014, Vermont Law School professor Cheryl Hanna was seeking treatment for severe depression. She bought a handgun, and used it to take her own life the next day.
“It’s kind of freaky how easy it was for her to get that gun,” her husband, Paul Henninge, later told Seven Days.
In his announcement, Baruth wrote he had “been working on a package of … proposals for several months.” He says that other provisions would ban 3D printing of guns and require that gun owners store their weapons safely.
Baruth says that his proposed legislation would be aimed at “shoring up what we did this year.” He refers to two provisions in a series of gun safety bills that became law in 2018: a requirement for universal background checks before purchasing guns, and the so-called “red flag” measure that allows police to remove guns when there’s imminent danger of violence.
“3D printing creates a work-around to background checks,” he says. He plans to propose banning the act of printing a gun and the dissemination of information on how to make a gun. Baruth acknowledges that the latter idea has been challenged on First Amendment grounds, but he expects that challenge to fail.
“You can criminalize publishing directions on making a bomb,” says Baruth. “I don’t see why states or the federal government couldn’t prohibit the dissemination of information about making a gun.”
The safe storage requirement is a logical extension of the idea that “only those who should have weapons have access to them,” Baruth says. And a waiting period, he argues, would build on the the red-flag law: preventing people from accessing firearms when they might be a danger to themselves or others.
This year’s gun debates were highly contentious. And even though the gun-rights community largely failed to defeat unfriendly officeholders at the ballot box, lawmakers might shy away from revisiting the issue so soon. Is there support for more gun laws?
“It’s important to start a conversation that may take more than one year,” says Baruth. “It may happen next year. It may take two, three or five years.”
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Yes, let’s put waiting periods on our rights. That’s a swell idea that no one could possibly be against. Nothing good can come from this, but a lot of bad sure will. Foreseeable consequences are not unintended.
I don’t know, but I’d assume that these same people are in favor of assisted suicide. But that’s different, because doctor.
Whatever happened to the 3 day waiting period??
Dear Doom: The death with dignity law requires extensive interviewing of the patient, reviews by multiple health care providers, and certainty (terminal diagnosis) of death within a limited time period. It is *highly* regulated. There is simply no comparison between that and the current ability of person with suicidal or homicidal intent to buy a gun and then within hours, carry out the deed.
As for putting a “waiting period on our rights,” I have the right to my own life not being taken by someone who decides in a flash of paranoia, anger, bitterness, disappointment, or boredom to buy a gun and within hours do the deed.
Living in a civilized society means balancing, doing what is best for the greatest number of people, even if it means that an angry or depressed individual has to wait 48 hours before buying a gun. Their right to the gun is not being taken away. Their responsibility to cool off, is what they owe to the rest of us.
Bravo, Senator Baruth.
“There is simply no comparison between that and the current ability of person with suicidal or homicidal intent to buy a gun”
sure there is. You own yourself. You are able to decide what to do to yourself. But I’m glad you think you’re in charge of other people. you can buy bleach or helium at the grocery store.
“Living in a civilized society means balancing, doing what is best for the greatest number of people,”
sounds like a great line of logic to abuse the minority. living in a civilized society doesn’t mean that. It means being civil, in a society. Again, apparently you know just what to do to control others.
” I have the right to my own life not being taken by someone”
not sure what strawman you’re yelling at.
That’s not how rights work, even a little. Your right to life doesn’t mean you can’t be killed, just that it’s illegal. You should be able to defend your life, that is a right that is inalienable.
a waiting period in incapable of stopping a motivated person. Their right to a gun is being denied, without due process. Compare this line of logic to abortion.
Again, foreseeable consequences are not unintended.
An evil person with motivation will put up with a waiting period.
https://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2015/0…
A waiting period only harms those who are actually in danger.
this is foreseeable, if this happens here the blame will be squarely on those who passed the law.
The government is forbidden by the first amendment from forbidding the publication of information on building firearms. Locked storage of firearms in the home was ruled unconstitutional in the Heller decision in 2008. Phil Baruth truly needs to be impeached and removed from office for his attacks on our civil rights.
Copied from someone else. So an ex boyfriend text his ex girlfriend after many heated arguments over the past two months, Im going to kill you! She goes to a gun store to buy a firearm for protection in fear for her life. You will have to wait 48 hours to take possession of the firearm. Later that night, ex boyfriend kicks in the door and stabs her to death. How did the 48 hour hold prevent her death? This is what needs to be brought to law makers attention. Their daughter, niece, wife, etc….
“Baruth wrote he had “been working on a package of … proposals for several months.” He says that other provisions would ban 3D printing of guns and require that gun owners store their weapons safely.”
He’s been working on these things for months. We have crossed the line of the slippery slope. Baruth proves what we’ve been saying all along. They got a foot in the door. NOW is the time to slam the door on their feet!
“He plans to propose banning the act of printing a gun and the dissemination of information on how to make a gun.”
And Mr. Brownshirt Baruth now wants to control freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the dissemination of ideas.
Sadly, this is another way of docusing attention away from the real killer..DEPRESSION & Mental illness, that is the battle the state wants to avoid so they focus in the tool. This young mas was determined to take his own life and sadly would have found any way to do so.
A waiting period would have changed nothing for this young man. This was not an impulse decision he made but something in the works for a while. A person can purchase a fire arm and wait the required period but there is nothing to say that next week they will not make a rash decision again. This does nothing to look at the real problem but is just smoke and mirrors for some politicians to make themselves look good that they are trying something but ignoring the real fix.
Baruth needs to take a flying leap. If not for rampant voter fraud he would not be in office.
He does not represent Vermont or Vermonters. On behalf of many many Vermonters.
WE WILL NOT COMPLY
All the gun fanatics are crying about their rights again. Give it a rest. If you really, really want another gun, you can wait a mere 48 hours to get one. With proper planning you will have your gun for hunting or whatever purpose you have for it. If it saves one life, it is a good piece of legislation. People whining about personal responsibility have no conception of the state of mind of a suicidal person. Two deaths in the last five years that we know of could have been prevented with such a law, and I firmly believe that is a valid public policy. I applaud the senator from Chittenden County for understanig this.
“All the gun fanatics are crying about their rights again. Give it a rest. If you really, really want another gun, you can wait a mere 48 hours to get one.”
Here’s an alternative:
“All the anti-mural fanatics are crying about “mural non-diversity” again. Give it a rest. If you really want the mural removed, you can wait for the results of the public mural commission’s work,” rather than taking the law into your own self-righteous hands and vandalizing public property.