Gun Sense Vermont is spinning the Bloomberg “Everytown for Gun Safety” “sting” operation as FACT in pushing for unconstitutional law in Vermont.
The federal government CANNOT regulate trade within the borders of any state.
This is why the anti-gun lobby and anti-rights legislators are pushing S.31 so hard.
If they can allow the federal government control over intra-state trade, they can allow new gun laws to be enacted and enforced without any input from Vermonters.
Also part of S.31 is the mental health section, once again allowing the federal government to mandate and regulate the privacy of Vermonters, as well as their ability to possess firearms. Once the federal government takes over, whatever happens won’t be our legislator’s fault, their hands “will be clean.”

Gun Sense Factoid: On September 19, 2014, a 32-year-old man in St. Albans, VT responded to an online listing for a Glock 30 semiautomatic handgun — one of hundreds posted on the website Armslist.com that day. The man had been in trouble with the law more than a dozen times, was a fugitive from justice, and had been convicted of assault against the mother of his child. According to her account, he slammed her into the wall and then repeatedly head-butted her before pushing her down the stairs

Gun Owners of Vermont Analysis: If the warrant, from 2003, was for a missed appearance in Vermont court, sent to NEBRASKA, it would be logical to assume the man was a resident of NEBRASKA at the time, not Vermont.
Again, the characterization of Vermonters buying firearms as being criminals is offensive.

In any case, this person, a repeat offender, did not actually meet up with the fraudster, nor receive the non-existent firearm in question.
The Gun Sense / Bloomberg logic is “two wrongs make a strong case for gun control in Vermont”.

Laying false bait for buyers to entrap as many criminals as possible is something reserved for law enforcement officers with state approval and policy guidelines.

How many law-abiding citizens were researched?
How many law enforcement officers looking for a new handgun or target rifle were also investigated?

Bloomberg’s Everytown “report” keeps referring to prohibited person’s being violent offenders, yet only a small number (0.9%) of all prohibited persons in this country are guilty of domestic violence.

Most of the examples are violent men with a 10 year old convictions, or drug dealers exchanging guns for drugs.
These people did nothing more than “responded” to an ad.
Did a meeting take place?  Did money change hands?  Did a gun change hands?
No, on all counts.
So, the new Universal Background Check law is supposed to prevent a prohibited felon from obtaining firearm by making illegally obtaining a firearm, MORE illegal?
Seriously?

What we have here are REPEAT OFFENDERS that are not still incarcerated due to the revolving door policies in Vermont.

During the four month “sting” period, unlicensed sellers (including Bloomberg’s private investigators from out of state) posted around 1,000 sales ads for products that did not exist (isn’t fraud a crime in Vermont?) on three websites, to create a “rate of nearly 3,000 gun ads per year”.
So after investigating 24 citizens, only the 24th turned out to be a “prohibited person”, yet the other 23 law-abiding citizens had their personal information checked against criminal databases in the attempt to find out if they were criminals!

Guilty until proven innocent is the anti-gunner’s motto!

Ann Braden and Gun Sense wholeheartedly agree this is justified.

Why are the citizens of Vermont under “investigation” by private investigators in Michael Bloomberg’s employ?

Because Gun Sense VT was working with them in a national campaign against the sovereign rights of every state where Bloomberg’s anti-rights group Everytown is attacking.

Remember Washington State, where Bloomberg and his minions spent $10 M to pass I-594?

In Vermont, it appears our legislators worked in conjunction with Ann Braden and Everytown lobbyists (yes, Everytown is now a REGISTERED lobbyist) to create S.31 using the manufactured “evidence”, falsified “reports” and skewed “statistics” in a calculated deception on the citizens of Vermont!

This targeted “reports”, the “sting” operation (4 months in execution + more months in planning stages), and a NATIONAL advertising campaign released TWO DAYS BEFORE the Gun Sense Press Conference (which also used Everytown statistics).
Next, dozens of local newspaper ads and high-quality graphic images painting Vermont as a wasteland of domestic violence, female victims, and gun-fueled drug crime (already debunked on dozens of national pages as well as Gun Owners of Vermont research) appeared backing the emergency need for S.31.
Where did this money come from to change Vermont law?

So the question remains.
Does Vermont legislature govern by false statistics, media hype and out-of-state money, or by Constitutional law that has a proven track record of keeping Vermont the SAFEST STATE IN THE NATION?