Vermont Legislature Passes Bipartisan Bill To Legalize Suppressors

After months of education and negotiation, and a great deal of hard work on the part of Rep. Patrick Brennan (R-Chittenden), the Vermont legislature yesterday passed H. 5, a bill that would make Vermont the 40th state in the Union to recognize the right to private suppressor ownership.

As you might remember from our earlier post, Rep. Brennen successfully lobbied to have suppressor ownership language inserted into an economic development bill, S. 138, last Tuesday.  When the suppressor ownership provision was later removed from that bill in conference committee, Rep. Brennan went right back to work, reaching across the aisle to work with Sen. John Rogers (D-Essex/Orleans), who inserted the provision into H. 5, a hunting bill, on the Senate floor Friday morning.  Together Rep. Brennan and Sen. Rogers, along with Rep. David Deen (D-Westminster), spent much of Friday working tirelessly to whip votes in favor of the suppressor ownership bill in both the House and Senate.  Their efforts paid off, and H.5 passed both the Senate and the House with overwhelming majorities.

The American Suppressor Association would like to thank all the legislators who worked hard to secure suppressor rights in Vermont, but special gratitude is owed to Rep. Brennan.  Rep. Brennan worked vigorously throughout the session for our suppressor rights, not only by drafting the language that would make them legal, but also by making sure the language was attached to no fewer than three bills before finally being approved.

The American Suppressor Association is working hard with Rep. Brennan to ensure that this bill becomes law, and we are very excited about the prospect of bringing suppressor ownership to Vermont. However, we need your help. Although we expect Gov. Shumlin to sign H. 5 into law, we ask that you reach out to him to let him know just how important this issue is.

Please call and email Gov. Shumlin and politely ask him to support of the legalization of suppressors by signing H. 5 into law.  His contact information is available through the link provided below.

http://governor.vermont.gov/contact-us