Kudos to Bill Borcher of Green Mountain Gun Shows for gracefully demonstrating how people associated with gun sales are not all hot-headed reactionaries.

According to the Freeps, Mr. Borcher is voluntarily beefing up the screening he was already applying to private vendors at his shows, by requiring background checks for all private sales made at any future event.

Borcher also says the news of multiple-death gun incidents in recent years solidified his view that society ought to make sure only responsible, reliable people get their hands on firearms.

Mr. Borcher is holding an event at the Holiday Inn in South Burlington this weekend and says private security will be on hand to enforce the new rules.

Give that man a ci-gar for saying the magic word: “society.”  

On the same page of the Freeps, but decidedly on the other hand, Robert Boivin II, Chairman of the Board for the Lamoille Valley Fish and Game Club came across with pure petulance when, acting on behalf of the entire membership, he suspended access to the club’s shooting range for Burlington City police.  

The ban was conceived as a punishment for the City Council, which has proposed a ban on semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity magazines; and it certainly did the trick.  Suspension of privileges at the club means that City Police do not have any place to take target practice.  

Mayor Weinberger and the City Council called the suspension “unfortunate.”

Explaining the reason for its decision, the Club wrote that it was withdrawing its support from the City Council because the Council’s action showed

…such prejudice against our club and its members.

No mention of “society” here.

The club’s punitive behavior qualifies for one of my mother’s favorite scolds:

“You’re just cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

Handicapping the local constabulary, who are entrusted with the safety of all residents, will really make the public more sympathetic to opponents of gun restrictions