Proposed Bill Would Ban Cellphone Use For Anyone Under 21

MONTPELIER, Vt. (CBS Local) -- A bill introduced in the Vermont Senate would make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to use or possess a cellphone in the state.

The bill, S.212, would make possession or use of a cellphone a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of a year behind bars or a $1,000 fine or both.

The legislation links cellphone use by people under the age of 21 to a rise in driving fatalities, suicides, mass shootings and terrorism.

"The internet and social media, accessed primarily through cell phones, are used to radicalize and recruit terrorists, fascists and other extremists," the bill reads.

Senator John Rodgers, a Democrat, said he introduced the bill on Tuesday to make a point.

"I have no delusions that it's going to pass," he told the Barre Montpelier Times Argus newspaper on Wednesday. "I wouldn't probably vote for it myself."

Rodgers said he's a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms and the legislature "seems bent on taking away our Second Amendment rights."

He said based on the information presented in his bill, a cellphone is much more dangerous than a gun.