Alphecca

VT Mayor Joins Anti-Gun Group

Note: This post has extensive updates at the end.

Progressive Mayor Bob Kiss of Burlington brought up gun control within days of his election last Spring. I first wrote about this loser back in May, and in greater depth here in June. Now he joins NYC Mayor Michael Blowhard and Boston's Menino in their national gun control movement. From Peter Freyne's 7 Days blog:

Yes, Bob Kiss, the tall, soft-spoken former Progressive state rep, is still the mayor of Vermont’s largest city. And Monday night, without fanfare, Mayor Kiss told the Burlington City Council and those in attendance that he had just become “about the 125th” mayor of an American city to sign on with “Mayors Against Illegal Guns.” Kiss said he had attended the recent Northeastern Regional Conference in Boston and put his John Hancock on the organization’s “Statement of Principles.”

And there's a nice list of platitudes given by the Mayors about stemming the flow of illegal guns. Sounds all sweetness and light and honorable. But here's their real agenda as told by Mayor Bloomberg at a press conference last month and reported by the Boston Globe:

To really make a dent in this problem we have to work together. The gun laws of one state affect the people of all the other states."

The mayors said they hope to stanch the flow of guns from states that have less-stringent laws by pressing for tougher gun-control measures nationwide...

And as I reported here, that echoed what Boston's Mayor Thomas Menino wrote in a Boston Herald op-ed:

"Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Providence Mayor David Cicilline and Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone joined me as our national coalition took its next steps forward. Unlike Congress, we mayors recognize that illegal guns are a national problem that requires a national solution because the gun laws of one state can have a drastic effect on other states."

So. Here you have the two founders of Mayors Against Illegal Guns freely admitting that their agenda is to see that all 50 states adopt the same draconian gun control laws as New York City and Massachusetts. They also want more gun control at a national level.

And Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss has signed on to it. Vermont doesn't have a crime problem or an illegal gun problem. Further, most Vermonters, including most Democrats, believe strongly in gun rights. For more on this see this post.

In the meantime, I'd say that the Mayor can kiss goodbye any hopes of higher office in the state. Heck, even Bernie Sanders (even!) voted FOR the Protection of Lawful Commerce...Act protecting gun makers and dealers from the types of frivolous lawsuits that Bloomberg, Menino, and now apparently Kiss, support.

[Thanks to Cathy Resmer for the email pointer to Freyne's post. --js]

Update 11/30: Peter Freyne continues the discussion of gun control with Kiss in this interview:

But "gun control" in Vermont?

Kiss: "Again, should there be waiting periods before people can buy handguns? I don’t object to that. I think it’s a reasonable thing to do. That might be portrayed as gun control, but I think that has a lot more to do with responsible gun ownership. In the same way that in Vermont before you get a hunting license, you have to take a firearms class so you’re prepared to do that appropriately. Is that gun control? I think it’s probably responsible training so everyone’s safe in the practice of hunting. I might say, no, it’s gun control because if I don’t take the course, I can’t use my gun. But again, I think it misses the point. So I would say that Vermont and society can develop a reasonable set of rules that does a better job at protecting us at the same time it allows guns to be in the community."

So there we are, back to waiting periods among other things. So when an abusive "ex" threatens a woman and ignores a restraining order (which they all do) she will have to wait before obtaining the means to protect herself both by "taking a class" and waiting to buy a handgun. And as I and others have reported here so often, that usually leaves a dead woman.

Keeping in mind that 7 Days and Peter Freyne are both rather liberal, some of the comments are not surprising and inane.

[Hat tip for the pointer to that article came from an email by She's Right and my thanks for that.]

So DOES Vermont have a gun problem? I think I need to reprint something I posted last June in its entirety:

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."

Right, not "gun control". Maybe just something... Help me out, folks, what do anti-gun types always say? Oh yeah! Something "sensible"!

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:

Asphyxiation	1
Assault - Hands/Fists	1
Blunt Object	4
Firearm	2
Knife	2
TOTAL	10

State of VT statistics

Maybe he should have a discussion about "blunt objects" instead.

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 shootings 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.

End of quote. So... Once again we see that gun control is really just about control, something that politicians crave above all other concerns and that too many on the far left (and right) readily agree with.

Posted by Jeff Soyer at November 28, 2006 04:57 PM