Brown student urges Vermont Judiciary Committee to advance omnibus gun bill and assault‑rifle ban

Madeline Connery, 20, a Brown University student from Shelburne, urged the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 8 to advance proposed gun legislation this session, including the Omnibus Gun Violence Prevention Bill and what the transcript lists as "House Bill 3 9 3 8 1," which the speaker described as a ban on the sale of semiautomatic assault rifles in Vermont.

"Today, I am here to urge this committee to, advance proposed, gun legislation coming before you this session, such as the Omnibus Gun Violence Prevention Bill, as well as push forward House Bill 3 9 3 8 1," Connery said during her remarks.

Connery recounted being directly affected by a Dec. 13 classroom shooting affecting two of her roommates. She described hearing what sounded like gunshots, running with dozens of others and hiding for hours. "I locked the doors, I turned off the lights... and I just hid under my desk for 6 hours," she said, adding that the event left her life "permanently marked by a before and an after."

Connery framed her testimony around policy gaps she said facilitate such attacks. She told the committee the Omnibus bill would "prohibit machine guns at the state level, ban devices that increase a firearms trigger rate, establish gun industry accountability laws, and strengthen firearm surrender procedures in domestic violence cases." She also said Vermont has taken steps on high‑capacity magazines but that gaps remain.

Some numerical claims in Connery's remarks (including counts of high‑capacity magazines produced and estimates of shootings or casualties that a prior ban would have prevented) appear garbled in the transcript and could not be independently verified from the text provided to the committee.

Citing international reforms, Connery pointed to Australia’s post‑mass‑shooting measures and urged Vermont lawmakers to act. She concluded with an appeal to lawmakers' sense of urgency: "Your thoughts and prayers won't stop bullets, but laws can."

In response, the committee chair thanked Connery and outlined the panel’s priorities. The chair said Vermont has enacted several changes in recent years, including a red‑flag law (extreme‑risk protection order) and strengthened relief‑from‑abuse provisions. The chair stated the committee intends to focus on implementing and improving existing tools — including task‑force recommendations on relinquishment and outreach to the medical community to use extreme‑risk authority — and said the panel will not take up an assault‑weapons ban this year, citing the possibility of adverse U.S. Supreme Court action.

The committee’s stated next steps are to pursue implementation and enforcement improvements for current laws, consider bans on devices that increase trigger rate, and continue discussions on industry accountability and domestic‑violence surrender procedures. No formal vote or motion on the bills was recorded in the transcript.

The House Judiciary Committee closed the brief testimony with thanks to Connery and moved on to other business.