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Vermont Legislature
Follow VPR's statehouse coverage, featuring Pete Hirschfeld and Bob Kinzel in our Statehouse Bureau in Montpelier.

2 More Gun Bills Headed To Scott's Desk, After Unanimous Votes In House And Senate

The Vermont Statehouse with a cloudy sky, with people gathering in front of the building.
Liam Elder-Connors
/
VPR
People gathered in Montpelier for the March For Our Lives on March 24, the day after the Senate intially approved S.55. It gave its final approval a few days later, and now two more bills related to guns are also headed to the governor: S.221 and H.422.

Vermont lawmakers have given their unanimous approval to two additional gun control measures. Now those are headed to Gov. Phil Scott, who has previously announced support for the bills.

S.221 and H.422 allow law enforcement officials to temporarily confiscate a gun from a person that a judge has determined poses an "extreme risk" to themselves or another person, or from the scene of an alleged domestic assault, respectively.

Sen. Dick Sears, chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, said these bills are designed to save lives.

"I would urge everyone to support this, get this bill to the governor's desk, and it's a bill that I think will make a difference," Sears said Thursday, regarding S.221.

More from VPR — In Montpelier, Not All Gun Bills Prove Divisive [March 29]

On Thursday, both the Senate vote on S.221 and the House vote on H.422 were unanimous in support.

Lawmakers have already passed a bill — S.55 — that expands background checks, raises the age to buy a gun to 21 years old, and bans bump stocks and large capacity magazines.

Scott supports all three bills.

"My hope is that we will have those in the very near future. My plan would be if everything goes right to have all three bills and have one signing of all three," Scott said at his press conference early Thursday afternoon. 

More from Vermont Edition — What's In S.55? Your Questions Answered [April 3]

Because it can take up to a week for bills to formally reach the governor's desk, it's likely the public signing ceremony won't take place until later in April.

Bob Kinzel has been covering the Vermont Statehouse since 1981 — longer than any continuously serving member of the Legislature. With his wealth of institutional knowledge, he answers your questions on our series, "Ask Bob."
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