Vermont: Armed and Frozen
Okay, so the nuts are everywhere. We might as well get used to it.
Vermont Rep. Fred Maslack is proposing that the state not only register non-gun owners but also charge them for not having a gun. Under Maslack’s proposal Vermont would become the first state to require a permit for the luxury of traipsing about unarmed and assess a fee of $500 for the privilege of not owning a gun.
Seriously? You’re gonna make my 85 year old Momma tote a pistol? Momma can’t hit the side of a barn – when she’s inside the barn. You want my Crazy Uncle Frank to carry a gun? Uncle Frank is on the AA Hall of Fame for Wagon Fallin’ Off. You want me carrying a gun? I guess I ought to let you know that I don’t like you much.
Now, here’s the fun part. The guy introducing this bill is a way overboard rightwinger and argues …
I mean, there is no reason why gun owners should have to pay taxes to support police protection for people who choose not to protect themselves. Why not let them contribute their fair share and pay their own way. Isn’t that reasonable? Non-gun owners require more police to protect them and this fee should go to paying for their defense.
Okay, so we’re going to do away with the police and just let everybody shoot each other? Well, that’ll work – just look at Somalia.
So, if we don’t have police, we don’t need judges and courthouses and District Attorneys and jails and crap. This is a real money saver and a boon for the funeral industry.
Thanks to Ralph for the heads up.
“Non-gun owners require more police to protect them and this fee should go to paying for their defense.”
What a bunch of crock. Police aren’t here to protect any of us, gun owners & non-gun owners alike. They try to catch the criminal after a crime has been committed, otherwise each of us would have our own police person as a bodyguard 24/7/365.
1Soooo, what if I as a Vermonter decide that Fred Maslack is not only an existential threat to my “Freedom and Unity” but also to the United States of America?
Can I just shoot him? Can I shoot him now? Can I, please?
What if I carry a cross-bow, broadsword, dirk, halberd, flamethrower, mace (either kind), and an electric cattle prod?
Do I still have to pay the stupid gun fee?
What if I live in New Hampshire (Live Free or Die!) and only WORK in Vermont as a ski instructor?
Forget that last question; if that were true I’d buy the gun just out of gratitude for a wonderful life.
What if I own a howitzer and place it on my front lawn aimed at the end of the driveway?
Does that count?
What if I just drag Maslack off his bar stool, relieve him of his gun, then charge him $500 for not having one?
That’s the ticket.
2this was proposed in 2009 and as a Vermonter I can assure you that as of this date (Dec. 11, 2012) it hasn’t been enforced.
3Yeah, we’ve got ’em too, in case you think this is a pure Progressive state, Progressives are the majority but there are a few under the rocks.
Funny story (we actually have a lot of funny political stories) when Gov. Dean signed in the act that brought in Civil Unions (we have Marriage for same sex couples now) the Righties put up signs: “Take back Vermont” the tourists thought this was a clever marketing technique to sell more Vermont products to the “Flatlanders” and they bought more maple syrup and other Vermont products and complemented us on the campaign, so the signs stayed up and the Righties were a bit miffed.
I’ll contact my local Rep. to the legislature to find out the bona fide status of this, I’m assuming it is DOA.
That doesn’t even make sense.
Is he going to bring his gun to a car accident? Or finding a lost child?
I think being near gun metal has addled his brain. Like some other gun owners we’ve heard from.
4There is a sight called The Liberal Gun Club (yes, there are liberals with guns, despite what Fox tells you). One of the threads recently linked to a couple of videos by a guy named Massad Ayoob, who seems to be a well-known self-defense/gun/law enforcement expert. He says you should call 911 even if you own a gun.
Why do so many people think owning a gun solves your problems? Recently a football player shot his girlfriend and then himself. She also liked to shoot. So owning a gun won’t solve all your problems. Right wing nut jobs always seem to skip the “know how and when to use it” part.
5Good story Carol….
I would also question Mr. Maslack’s assertion that “Non-gun owners require more police to protect them and this fee should go to paying for their defense.”
6I’m going to take one of my Scientific Wild-Assed Guesses and go out on a limb and say that ole Fred was screaming about how it was wrong for the gummint to make people buy health insurance even when providing a subsidy to people who can’t afford it. But he sees nothing wrong with requiring people to own a firearm even if they don’t have the extra capital to afford one that won’t blowup the first time anyone tries to use it.
7Fred Maslack is a representative in the next town and is basically an OK guy. I say this as a dyed-in-the-woolens Democrat (and Red Sox fan) who spent the month of October making phone calls in a successful effort to get out the vote for Obama and the rest of the Democratic slate of candidates here in Vermont.
Vermont is unique in that it is bristling with Liberals and guns. Everybody gets along and nobody gives a (word that Momma would disapprove of) about it. Fred just says what he says from time to time because Republicans have to be Republicans. From the days before the Founding of our Great Nation until this day, there have been no restrictions here in Vermont on the ownership of guns or the carrying thereof save acts of the US Congress in 1968 and 1986. In fact, the arming of your minor children is OK, too. Since the first Democrat elected to anything in the ’70’s, guns have not been an issue with any elected official as a matter of policy or any particular concern. I wish that Democrats would get over their fixation on “guns are bad” the better to metaphorically point them at Republicans who would then have one less issue to bludgeon Democrats with in every election cycle.
Please Google Fred Maslack and you will find out that he has been at this for at least 11 years with no result.
Also Google Fred Tuttle to find out what happens to those who try to buy a Senate seat here.
As for anyone that wants to drag Fred M. off his barstool, you are welcome to come on up and try.
8For some reason, this post made me think of this:
http://www.montrosebeerandgunclub.com/
9I think it is especially useful that a list of registered non-gun owners be generated. That way the police know they can ignoring helping out anyone whose name is not on the list.
BTW, would new-born babies be required to own guns? How about fetuses, since they are people too?
10I tell you what would work so much better for me, the non-gun-toting of the female variety-one of those “cattle shockers” the crazy guy used to get rid of absolutely everybody he did not have a use for in No Country For Old Men and Fred Maslack can be my very first test subject. This idea is to be used after daChipster’s ideas are considered too wussified for ole DeadFred.
11I’m just surprised that this was NOT first proposed by somebody in the Texas Lege. They don’t believe in “taxes” but they will “fee” you to death.
So….. this is the paradise that some folks want to “retire” to??
Might as well stay in Texas. We have our fair share of crazies right where we are.
Vigilante justice…. gotta luv it. Come to think of it….. we have that, too. Got to the point where people don’t like the color of your skin…. they shoot you….. if cops think you’re guilty of something….. they shoot you. (Forget about the judge and jury part)……Play your music too loud…… get shot. Few things scare me as much as nuts with guns.
12Is this guy a Republican? (I just looked it up, and the answer is yes). Aren’t Republicans generally against taxes in general? But Rep. Maslack is for taxing when you DON’T buy or DON’T own something? It’s a whole new source of revenue.
13Miemaw, while we are at it, Texas could impose a tax on being a straight male. Anyone who did not voluntairly file a “straight return” and pay the assessed tax would be issued special pink car tags, pink driver’s license, pink hunting license, and pink concealed hand gun license, all identifying the bearer as being extraordinarily light in his tennis shoes. The law could also require that his tennis shoes be pink. The proceeds could be dedicated to education and health insurance coverage.
14Hmmm. I live in VT and keep up with our goings on, but I have never heard of Fred Maslack. Thanks to Carol and Cal, who have obviously been paying attention. I’ll venture a guess that no one needs to fear Fred’s proposal will gain traction any time soon.
15Cal is right about the Fred Tuttle story, one of my favorites on how you can’t buy your way into a Senate seat here. In fact the story itself is better than the one it was supposed to promote (Man with a Plan) it completely fails me why they didn’t make a movie about that story, especially in that it was true and they wouldn’t have to embelish scenes, I particularly liked the “Debate”.
16I like to tell people, “We’re Liberals and we’re packin'” but somehow the myth of liberals not having guns seems to be pretty pervasive and people just don’t believe it.
We don’t need any paperwork, license or anything to carry a hidden weapon, we’re just to polite to pull it out for every little thing.
Yesterday, I made venison chili. We are liberals who hunt and raise cattle. In our family, guns are tools, but we don’t regard them as the best tools for all, or even most, chores.
Some folks should never be handed an electric drill, a pair of tweezers, or a pound of onions.
17Fred has evidentally been eating too much lead.
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