Vermont Moms Demand Action Responds to Ruling Backing State’s Prohibition on High-Capacity Magazines

The Vermont chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, the grassroots networks of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statement after the Vermont Supreme Court upheld the state’s 2018 law prohibiting the possession, purchase, sale, or manufacture of high-capacity magazines.

Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Vermont’s law. And in reaching its decision to uphold the law, the Vermont Supreme Court relied in part on Everytown Support Fund’s most recent mass shootings report.

“This ruling upholds a life-saving law our lawmakers passed to make Vermont safer, and it’s the latest example of the courts making clear there is no conflict between sensible gun safety laws and federal and state constitutions,” said Seton McIlroy, a volunteer with the Vermont chapter of Moms Demand Action. “The courts continue to make clear that strong gun laws are entirely consistent with the Constitution.”

The criminal defendant who had challenged the law, Max Misch, is reportedly a self-described white supremacist and was arraigned on disorderly conduct and hate crime charges in October “after using racist slurs during an altercation on a street with a Black man,” and causing “a public disruption while a Black Lives Matter mural was being painted,” according to Vermont Digger. As Everytown detailed in a September report, gun rights fanaticism is the common denominator among a confluence of dangerous challenges caused by groups and individuals on the extreme right, including a resurgent white supremacist movement.

In a separate order issued today, the Vermont Supreme Court also rejected a challenge to the law brought by the NRA’s Vermont affiliate and others.