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More on Burlington Mayor Gun Control Kiss

There's more today From the Burlington Free Press:

Guns are the province of the state Legislature, not of cities or mayors, The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs said in a strongly worded statement this weekend.

The group, representing the National Rifle Association in Vermont, is the umbrella organization for nearly 50 hunting and fishing and firearms clubs and 13,000 to 14,000 individual members across the state. It was responding to Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss' announcement last week that he wants to begin a "discussion" in Burlington about handguns and their easy availability.

Kiss emphasized again Tuesday that he was not raising the broad subject of gun control. "From the perspective of being mayor," he said, "I haven't looked at public safety in terms of whether there are initiatives we would like to take. At least an element of that is that we've had two recent shootings in which handguns were involved."

He said he wanted such a discussion to begin in groups already discussing public safety, and "without polarization."

Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss -- the guy who wants the City of Burlington, Vermont to become a "sanctuary" for illegal aliens (that would be people breaking the law,) -- wants to enact (or "discuss") some sort of gun control for the city. I mentioned this this past Tuesday in my Weekly Report and discussed it live on NRA News but for those who missed it, here's that part of the post again:

Gun control for Vermont? If leftist-liberal Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss has his way, it could be coming. Fortunately, he isn't currently allowed to have his way. From the Burlington Free Press:

Burlington should begin a discussion about handguns and their easy availability, Mayor Bob Kiss said Friday in light of two recent shootings in the city.

He raised the subject of handguns after a shooting at 2 a.m. Friday in the Old North End that left an unnamed 22-year-old victim hospitalized. An arrest warrant on charges of attempted first-degree murder was issued for Alden Harvey, 21. Police did not release the address of either man, but said the shooting was at the intersection of Monroe and Johnson streets.

Kiss said Friday's shooting, following the shooting death in April of Rhynell Lewis in a LaFountain Street apartment, made clear that handguns contribute to a greater "prevalence in the world to violence. We should all be concerned," he said. "It's definitely on a list of issues in terms of public safety that I want to pay attention to -- a personal list."

Several things. First and foremost, Burlington is one of the safest cities to live in the entire country. Three homicide shootings in one year in the city is a historical rarity. Vermont in it's entirety has the second lowest level of violent crime in the nation (2004 figures). Vermont had a total of 10 homicides in 2004 -- only 2 of them from firearms! This is a problem?

Getting back to the Free Press article:

Middlebury attorney Cindy Hill, a member of the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of Vermont and the author of the 2005 book, "Gun Owners Guide to Laws of Vermont," said an attempt by Burlington to regulate handguns, even by a change to the city charter, would violate state law.

"The long and the short of it is that municipalities under present law can prohibit the discharge of firearms, but they can't regulate who can possess or carry a firearm," she said.

Montpelier and Rutland both tried and the courts struck their ordinances down.

Back to today. Let me expand on those statistics. In 2004 (the last year that complete figures are available for) the entire state of Vermont had 10 homicides. Here's how they were committed:

Seriously, two homicides by firearms in 2004 within the entire state. Now, in 2006, two men from away --typical of the type causing havoc in other major metropolitan areas-- commit 3 murders by guns in Burlington.

Folks, that's not a "trend", it's a typical statistical anomaly that occurs regularly when you're dealing with a very small number of incidents. If there were two murders one year and 3 the next, the Brady Bunch and the likes of Bob Kiss will jump up and say, "See, see! A 50% increase in murder. We need new legislation!" They ignore the fact that such incidents as murder by firearms are extremely rare in Vermont as compared to most other states.

Oh and you liberals? Don't bother writing that the CDC reports a higher number of "deaths" by firearms. Those include hunting accidents and suicides. We're talking "murders", here. Click here to go directly to the State of Vermont's homicide statistics as compiled by the state police.

It's the typical knee-jerk reaction of these type of politicians to blame the gun rather than the mutants perpetrating the crime. Burlington has always been the embarrassment of Vermont, ever since it declared itself the "Sister City to Hanoi" during the Vietnam War era. Things haven't changed much I guess except now the Mayor wants to take away the rights of the law-abiding rather than going after the criminals. Oh wait! Remember: He wants his city to become a sanctuary for criminals by inviting ILLEGAL aliens to move in. What a jerk.