Finally...our day in court, at least the beginning. Here is an update from the local group leading the effort, Vermont Federation of Sportsmans Clubs.
Today, June 3rd, VTFSC President Chris Bradley, along with VTFSC Vice-Presidents Charles Ferry and Col. Terry Williams were at the Federal Courthouse in Burlington at 9AM to attend the last day of our Hearing seeking a Preliminary Injunction on Vermont’s’ Magazine Ban and 72-hour Waiting Period laws.
The first part of the Hearing occurred on May 23rd, where Judge Sessions heard testimony from two of the plaintiffs (VTFSC President Chris Bradley and Bill Cleary owner of the Powderhorn) as well as testimony from one of the State’s two selected expert witnesses, Lucy Allen.
As previously related, we believe that the May 23rd Hearing went very well for the plaintiffs. Both Mr. Bradley and Mr. Cleary were articulate and clearly described the harm that these two unconstitutional laws have caused to law-abiding Vermonters. In contrast to testimony provided by Mr. Bradley and Mr. Cleary – which left the State very little to pick on in cross-examination - our legal team then did an outstanding job of discrediting the testimony and report of Lucy Allen, who is a “professional witness” who charges $1,200 an hour.
As an aside here: After the grilling Lucy Allen received on May 23rd by our exceptional legal team, the State asked if we would agree to allow their second expert’s testimony to be submitted without us being able to cross-examine him. This request was politely declined.
The hearing today was scheduled to allow the State to bring forward their second expert witness - a certain Professor Robert Spitzer – who charges $750 per hour and states that his expertise is in the history of gun laws in America. Under the Heller and Bruen decisions: The State retained Mr. Spitzer as their “expert” to outline the historic laws that could possibly be analogues that would reinforce and support the Legislature passing the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device law (13 VSA § 4021) and the 72-hour Waiting Period (13 VSA § 4019a).
In his report to the court, Mr. Spitzer had assembled a list of historic laws which he believed provided historical analogues to the magazine ban. Across 2 ½ hours, our legal team dismantled that report by pointing out that virtually every law he mentioned was mis-categorized by Mr. Spitzer as either being a ban when they weren’t, or by stating that certain laws were representative of a given State when those laws were never state-wide but were instead one-offs for specific locations within State. Many of these laws related to Bowie Knives and not firearms.
While he attempted in vain to defend the magazine ban, he admitted under oath that there really were no analogues to the Waiting Period, other than the theory that since firearms were not being mass produced, they were not always readily available to buy due to them having to be custom made.
It was another good day in court for the “good guys.”
The next step is that the Judge allowed each side to write and submit supplemental arguments in 10 days. Each side will then be given 5 days to respond to the opposition’s supplemental arguments.
So: 15 days from now, on or about the week of June 16th – the Judge will be able to make a ruling on whether he will issue a Stay on the Mag Ban or Waiting Period.
Either way: We will then proceed to Discovery for the full trial.
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Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs
VT Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs
