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Federation Position On VAST Gun Ban Policy

Earlier this year the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST) enacted a policy banning guns from buildings and structures on property which it owns, leases or controls. This policy was reportedly enacted because some individuals reported being intimidated by the presence of a person with a firearm.

The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs through its leadership has made numerous attempts to convince VAST to retract this policy. Unfortunately, the federation has made absolutely no progress in this endeavor.

The ability to keep and bear arms is a constitutional right protected by both the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 16 of the Vermont Constitution. In addition, Vermont has state laws that allow for the removal from private property and prosecution of anyone acting irresponsibly with a firearm.

Vermont is a state in which the right to bear firearms is taken seriously and responsibly exercised by many people. Many VAST members are hunters/gun owners. To unjustly characterize gun owners as being so irresponsible as to require the banning of firearms, as per the VAST policy, is quite a drastic position.

Starbucks was recently subjected to a highly publicized national campaign by antigun groups demanding the banning of firearms from their stores. Starbucks stood by its very logical position of having their stores adopt a policy that comported with the laws of the jurisdiction of the store's location on the carry of firearms.

Starbucks' policy means that a person carrying a firearm in a Starbucks, who is not acting irresponsibly or illegally with a firearm, is welcome to transact business in Starbucks. Starbucks is a national chain of coffee stores and has many, many stores in the major urban areas of this nation.

VAST, like the community served by the federation, is highly dependent upon having access to property it does not own. It is contradictory of VAST to embrace a policy of a landowner banning an entire group of people from their property because they might do something wrong, while VAST itself depends on the good will of property owners who grant VAST access to their land based upon their trust that people will act responsibly and lawfully. Thus, the bad actors alone will pay for their bad behavior.

VAST would be wise to reconsider its current policy on firearms and adopt the Starbucks policy of allowing the lawful and responsible to carry of firearms, as is the state-wide legal standard of Vermont