The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation Friday that would ban guns from Vermont hospitals. The bill would also set up a legislative study of whether to prohibit firearms from the Capitol Complex in Montpelier.
The committee voted 3-1 to move the legislation, S.30, to the Senate floor after days of debate. Members had previously decided to whittle it down from an original proposal that would also have banned firearms from government buildings and child care centers.
That proposal was initially co-sponsored by 16 senators, a majority of the 30-member chamber. But the legislation hit serious roadblocks in the judiciary committee, with gun-rights advocates arguing that it was unconstitutional and that the state’s trespass statute already covered what the bill aimed to address.
Current law only forbids carrying firearms into courthouses and schools. The amended version of the bill would add hospitals to that list. If it were signed into law, a person who knowingly brought a gun into a hospital could be imprisoned for not more than one year or fined not more than $1,000.
On Friday, the committee was left in suspense as Sen. Alice Nitka, D-Windsor — the deciding vote on the bill — kept her views private until the last minute.
“I’ve been looking at both ends of this. I think there are certainly issues I don’t like in it, and there are other issues I know people feel they need, so I’m basing my vote on that,” Nitka said. “You’ll see when I vote.”
Nitka ended up joining Sens. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, and Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, in supporting the bill, while Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, voted against it. Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, was absent.
Baruth, the bill’s lead sponsor, said before the vote that no matter the outcome, he believed the entire Senate should have the chance to consider the legislation.
“I believe this is an issue that should be discussed by the Senate,” said Baruth, who has argued that the measure could protect elected officials during a period of increased political violence.
Sears, who chairs the committee, said he would oppose any amendments to S.30 introduced on the Senate floor — and, if it were successfully amended, he would vote against the underlying bill itself. Baruth said he, too, would oppose any amendments to broaden the scope of the bill. He said Senate Democrats had assured him that no such additions would be made.
