A federal judge has rejected a bid by gun rights organizations to block the enforcement of two firearms laws passed in Vermont in recent years.
In an 88-page ruling, Judge William K. Sessions III denied a request by the plaintiffs, including the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, to order a preliminary injunction against the state.
The judge’s decision means that Vermont can continue to enforce its large-capacity firearms magazine ban, passed in 2018, as well as a 72-hour waiting period for firearms purchases, which passed last year.
“Plaintiffs have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits with regard to (large capacity magazines) because those magazines are not in common use for self-defense,” Sessions wrote in the ruling issued last week.
“But,” the judge added, “regardless of whether LCMs are in common use for self-defense, the State’s restriction is justified by the nation’s history of regulating mass threats to public safety.”
In addition, Sessions wrote, the gun rights groups were “unlikely” to succeed in their challenge to the waiting period legislation. That’s because “the plain text of the Second Amendment does not protect a right to immediately acquire a firearm,” he wrote.
The gun rights organizations had argued the two firearms laws were unconstitutional.
Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark, in an emailed statement Wednesday, called the ruling a “positive step” in the efforts to reduce gun violence in the state.
“The data is clear: these commonsense gun measures save lives,” Clark said. “The likelihood of dying in a mass shooting decreases when large-capacity magazines cannot be used, and waiting periods reduce the incidents of impulsive gun violence.”
The case now heads toward a trial pending potential actions by the plaintiffs.
Brady Toensing, a former vice chair of the Vermont Republican Party who also served in former President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, represented the parties bringing the legal challenge in Vermont’s federal court.
He would not say Wednesday whether he intended to appeal Sessions’ ruling on the preliminary injunction. Toensing said he was reviewing the matter.
Parties have 30 days from the July 18 ruling date to file a notice of appeal.
Among the other parties listed as plaintiffs in the legal action are Powderhorn Outdoor Sports Center and Vermont Republican Party Chair Paul Dame.
As part of their challenge, the gun rights organizations cited the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. et al. v. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police, et al.
That ruling set a standard for a government to meet when enacting laws regulating firearms, calling on them to “demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Club and some of the same plaintiffs bringing the federal action were unsuccessful in a separate legal case in state court after suing the state of Vermont in 2018, also challenging the high-capacity firearm magazine ban.
That law, which limits magazine sizes to 10 rounds for long guns and 15 rounds for handguns, was part of a series of gun reform measures passed by lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Phil Scott in 2018, just months after an alleged school shooting plot was uncovered in Fair Haven.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Federal judge rules against gun rights groups seeking to block enforcement of 2 state firearms laws.