The Barre F&G Club has for decades held its Annual Gun Show
at the Memorial Auditorium in Barre. It is a traditional event for
the first weekend in February.
On Friday, the Mayor of Barre announced on WCAX that the
gun show should not have "military-style firearms" present at
the show. And for the first time he will have plainclothes police
officers in the parking lot at the show. (WCAX article below)
As we all know, the mayor is probably referring to semi-
automatic firearms. He likely does not understand that these
Modern Sporting Rifles (MSR) are among the most popular
and are a very substantial portion of the rifles sold in this country.
They are not the fully automatic rifles used by our military.
The semi-automatic handguns owned by civilians are by far
the largest segment of handguns sold in this country. And
with both the semiautomatic rifles and handguns, these
types of firearms have dominated the civilian markets for
decades.
Virtually every form of center-fire rifle or handgun has been
issued to and used by the U.S. military.
This news story has been picked up by The Boston Globe,The
San Francisco Chronicle and many other news outlets in the
national media. Which means the Barre Fish & Game Club
has been defamed far and wide.
The Barre Fish & Game Club runs its annual gun show just
like all of its other events and activities: in a honorable and
lawful manner. This event brings hundreds of vendors of the
show and thousands more visitors to downtown Barre for a
weekend during the dead of winter.
The Barre Fish & Game Club has long provided many services
to the community. Among these are:
*Conducting Vermont Hunter Education Classes
*Hosting NRA Firearms Instructor Certification Courses
*Conducting an Annual Fishing Derby for youngsters
*Conducting NRA Women On Target events
*Operating and maintaining a ranges for the public to use for a
very minimal permit fee
* Closing its ranges for days at a time so law enforcement
personnel may use the ranges for training and qualifications.
This Includes the City of Barre Police Department and the
Vermont State Police.
The Mayor Lauzon's Barre's comments to the media do a
serious disservice to the Barre Fish & Game Club. They
incorrectly characterize the club's gun show as irresponsible.
Worse, his statements were wrong and unjust.
Barre mayor wants to limit weapons at gun show
Posted: Jan 04, 2013 12:11 PM EST<em class="wnDate">Friday, January 4, 2013 12:11 PM EST</em>Updated: Jan 04, 2013 8:04 PM EST<em class="wnDate">Friday, January 4, 2013 8:04 PM EST</em>
BARRE, Vt. -
Signs promote the 2013 Central Vermont Gun Show planned for next
month at the Barre Auditorium. But Mayor Thom Lauzon wants certain guns
banned from the 200 plus tables.
"In light of the recent events and timing of the gun show, I think
it is the responsible and appropriate thing to do," Lauzon said.
In the wake of the recent school massacre in Connecticut, Lauzon is
asking show organizers-- the Barre Fish and Game Club-- to voluntarily
ban the display and sale of military-style firearms and high capacity
magazines during this year's gun show.
"If you look at federal law that is no longer in effect, it is a
long list of what would be considered military-style assault weapons, in
regards to capacity, and magazine that can hold 10 rounds or more,"
Lauzon said.
Lauzon, who supports the gun club and supports legal and
responsible firearm ownership, also plans to put plainclothes police
officers in the parking lot to prevent illegal sales outside the show
for the first time.
"People have already tried to point out that we don't have the
authority to do that. I will beg to differ, we do and don't challenge me
on that. We have an ordinance in the city of Barre," Lauzon said.
The Barre Fish and Game Club declined to comment for this story until they have an opportunity to meet with the mayor.
"I am in support at this time, putting some distance in between
selling guns in Barre," said Paul Poirier, a member of the Barre City
Council.
Lauzon sent a letter asking councilors to review the request at their next meeting Tuesday night.
"I think asking people at this time to be a little more considerate
of gun sales, in particular assault weapons, I think it would reflect
the views of the community at this point," Poirier said.
Another gun show, the Green Mountain Gun Show, is planned in two
weeks in South Burlington. City officials there do not plan on making
any special requests to the promoters. At this point there are no plans
for a statewide ban on these kinds of guns at gun shows.
