Vermont Range Owner Will Wallow in State Prison Until His Range Is Torn Down

By: José Niño

Earlier this month, Vermont Judge Thomas Durkin, who is part of the Vermont Superior Court’s Environmental Division, issued an arrest warrant to all law enforcement officers to have shooting range owner Daniel Banyai be arrested and incarcerated until he or the town he’s been in a multi-year dispute with destroy the gun range.

The town in question is Pawlet, Vermont which is inhabited by a measly 1,386 people.

The writ of mittimus – an arrest warrant that a court issues to commit an individual to imprisonment — read as follows:

“BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF VERMONT, any sheriff or constable in this state is directed to arrest Daniel Banyai, and remit him to the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections, to be thereafter confined until he or the Town causes the subject property to be brought into compliance with the March 5, 2021, Order, as described in the February 8, 2023 Contempt Order, to the court’s satisfaction.”

Banyai and Pawlet town officials have been butting heads about his 30-acre range which he bought back in July 2013. From the outset, Banyai’s neighbors complained about the noise coming from the shooting range. Town officials contend that Banyai set up the gun range on his land without obtaining the correct zoning permits.

The shooting range owner stressed that his range is safe and features a firearms education center.

After failing to get Banyai to comply with city zoning regulations, Pawlet political officials filed a lawsuit against the range owner in Vermont’s Environmental Court. The court pressed Banyai to take down the unpermitted structures in less than four months. Banyai gave this ruling the cold shoulder, which prompted the Environmental Court to hold Banyai in contempt of court back in February.

“Respondent has demonstrated a willfulness, perhaps even an enthusiasm, for disregarding the Town’s Bylaws, this Court’s Orders, and the authority of the Judiciary,” Durkin declared in the contempt-of-court order that he published.

In his writ of mittimus that he issued on July 6, Judge Durkin claimed that he sent Banyai a “compliance schedule to give Respondent final opportunity to bring his property into compliance.”

“Respondent has failed to do so. As such, imprisonment is an appropriate coercive remedy in these circumstances,” Durkin added. A GiveSendGo account was set up for Daniel Banyai, which aims to raise funds for his legal defense. Thus far, over $6,300 has been raised for Banyai’s legal fund.

Banyai’s legal ordeal is indicative of the troubling state of gun politics in Vermont. Once one of the United States’ freest jurisdictions in terms of gun rights, Vermont has seen its pro-gun reputation take a hit in the last decade thanks to Gov. Phil Scott (R-VT) signing several gun control measures such as red flag gun confiscation orders, restrictions on magazine capacity, and universal background checks. As a result, Vermont now occupies a dismal 37^th place according to Guns & Ammo magazine’s best states for gun owners rankings.

Banyai’s case further illustrates the state’s anti-gun descent. All hope is not lost. As long as gun owners can still effectively organize, they can halt further encroachments against the right to bear arms and even repeal bad legislation if they put their minds to it.

The key here is that gun owners don’t give up in the face of adversity.

José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.