Skip to content

Vermont v. Misch

10.17.19

Protecting Vermont’s prohibition on large-capacity magazines.

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Issue at Stake: Large-capacity magazines

Summary: Vermont v. Misch is a challenge to a Vermont statute prohibiting, with limited exceptions, the possession, purchase, sale, or manufacture of large-capacity ammunition magazines (LCMs). Misch, a criminal defendant charged with violating the statute, argues that it infringes upon the right to bear arms under the Vermont Constitution.

Everytown for Gun Safety filed this amicus brief in the Vermont Supreme Court in defense of Vermont’s statute. This brief presents historical analysis, as well as a historical addendum of gun laws, that situates Vermont’s law in a long tradition of laws prohibiting or regulating weapons that legislatures have determined to be unacceptably dangerous—including a century of restrictions on firearms capable of firing a large number of rounds without reloading. Everytown’s brief further demonstrates that the contrary assertion by the criminal defendant challenging the law that LCMs and similar “repeating firearms” “have been in common use for over 500 years” is belied by the historical record. And, relying on Everytown’s own research, the brief also explains the substantial relationship between regulating large-capacity magazines and Vermont’s undeniably important interest in preventing and mitigating both mass shootings and daily gun violence.

Decision: On February 19, 2021, the Vermont Supreme Court upheld Vermont’s statute under the state constitution. The Court found that the law is a reasonable regulation of the right of the people to bear arms for self-defense, and affirmed the trial court’s denial of the criminal defendant’s motion to dismiss.

Case Documents