Some things are certain: death, taxes and, in the case of the Vermont Legislature, the biennial introduction of gun-control legislation by Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Burlington.
It remains to be seen how much interest lawmakers will have in taking up policy proposals not directly related to Covid-19 and the related economic crisis. But Baruth, who has championed gun-control legislation since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, is at it again with three new bills — at least one of which appears likely to be approved by the upper chamber.
That bill would ban firearms from hospitals, government buildings and childcare centers. Baruth has also drafted two other pieces of legislation. One would prohibit the carrying of semi-automatic weapons at public demonstrations and political gatherings. The third would institute a 48-hour waiting period for firearm purchases.
Baruth, who is vice chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the panel Tuesday that he believes the most important and least controversial measure is the first. “Given what we’ve had going on around the country, especially in open carry states, that one seems very necessary,” Baruth said. Vermont is an open carry state.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, who chairs the committee, said he plans to take up the proposal next week and Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham, signaled support for it in a memo to senators Tuesday morning.
Baruth sounded less optimistic about the fate of the 48-hour waiting period measure. In 2019, Republican Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a 24-hour waiting period for handgun purchases.
“I think it will save people’s lives, but it has its own history now and I’m not sure if we wind up going forward with that or not,” Baruth said.
Schools and courthouses are currently the only places where firearms are banned in Vermont.
Baruth said that when he was drafting the legislation, advocates had asked him to include college campuses, but he decided against doing so.
“I was trying to keep it to things where the discussion is very, very simple and straightforward,” he said.
Then again, when it comes to the politics of gun control in Vermont, nothing is simple and straightforward.
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