[D]ays after a bill mandating a 24-hour waiting period for handguns passed the Senate, House lawmakers began to weigh whether that compromise legislation will stand.
In passing the legislation last week, some senators expressed concern about what could happen to the measure in the House, which last year added a high-capacity magazine ban to a Senate bill that is now being challenged in court.
Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington, who proposed a bill with a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases this session, said Wednesday that he’s open to supporting the Senate’s scaled-down version.
However, he stopped short of endorsing it until he hears further testimony on the legislation.
Rob Black of Essex, the father of 23-year-old Andrew Black, who shot and killed himself late last year only hours after purchasing a gun, said Wednesday he was grateful for the Senate action.
But Black said he would like to see the waiting period extended to 48 to 72 hours for all firearms purchases, not just handguns.
“I think all we’re talking about here is time,” Rob Black said. “Andrew just needed a little more time and it ran out.”
Black spoke Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, in a hearing on the gun control legislation.
Rob Black and his wife Alyssa included in their son’s obituary a plea for people to contact their lawmakers to establish a waiting, or “cooling off,” period for gun purchases.
Even if a 24-hour waiting period had been in place at that time, “I truly believe Andrew would be alive today,” the father told the panel.
Rob Black said after the hearing Wednesday that a waiting longer period, between 48 and 72 hours, would provide even more of a “buffer or speed bump,” to slow down and rethink impulsive acts.
“I support 24 hours because it’s 24 more hours than we have right now,” he said. “Would I like to 48 or 72? Absolutely.”
LaLonde, a House Judiciary Committee member, said Wednesday that he’s still considering how long a waiting period should be, and what firearms should be included.
“If I think this works, if I think this is going to solve the problem, I’m inclined to want to follow that,” he said of the Senate measure.
However, he added, he still is looking forward to hearing additional testimony.
“We have to really press and look at the length of the waiting period,” LaLonde said, “and how many firearms are covered to really think if what the Senate did was sufficient.”
Asked about his own bill, H.159, which called for a 72-hour waiting for both handguns and long guns, LaLonde replied, “I would say that bill is off. We’re not looking at that bill.”
Instead, he said, the issues raised by his proposed legislation can be explored through the bill that passed the Senate and is now being considered by the House Judiciary Committee.
LaLonde said he proposed the 72-hour waiting period legislation to provide a “cooling-off” period that could prevent impulsive acts, such as suicide or harm to others.
Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, had proposed a bill, S.22, calling for 48-hour waiting period for all firearms. That bill also proposed requirements for the safe storage of firearms.
The Senate approved a compromise bill offered by Dick Sears, D-Bennington, the Senate Judiciary Committee chair, S.169, which sets a 24-hour waiting period for the purchase of handguns only, with no safe storage requirements.
Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, a supporter of a longer waiting period, said the bill was too “watered-down,” and promised to return to the Statehouse to continue pushing for greater gun control.
LaLonde last year was a lead sponsor of legislation that established several restrictions on
firearms in Vermont, including limits on magazine size and a bump stock ban. He had proposed other amendments last year that he later withdrew, such as a ban on assault-style weapons and a 10-day waiting period for gun sales.
LaLonde said Wednesday he has no plans, at this point, to propose additional amendments to the firearms bill that passed the Senate.
“I’m not thinking of any. I’m sure we’re going to hear from witnesses who may want safe-storage,” he said. “I find it highly unlikely I would put safe storage on there because that’s specifically been rejected by the Senate.”
Chris Bradley, president of the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, opposes the 24-hour waiting period.
Bradley said the mandatory delay would make it harder for people to access firearms for self-defense.
“The intent of the waiting period portion of S.169 is very specific: It is intended to prevent a first-time buyer who is suicidal from acting on impulse,” he said.
“If that is the case,” Bradley said, “shouldn’t this bill create an exception that allows someone who already owns firearms to be exempt from this waiting period?”
That idea was also floated in the Senate but did not gain any traction. The legislation that passed the Senate also included provisions regarding high-capacity magazines initially proposed in a separate bill by Sen. John Rodgers, D-Essex/Orleans.
Those measures include allowing out-of-state law enforcement officers and Vermont residents at shooting competition to possess high-capacity magazines banned by last year’s legislation.
The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a public hearing regarding S.169 in the Statehouse from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 2.
