The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved a bill, S.30, that would prohibit the possession of firearms inside hospitals.
But before sending the legislation to the House floor, the panel tacked on a new provision that would strengthen the state’s rules governing background checks to purchase guns.
The amendment, sponsored by Rep. William Notte, D-Rutland City, would close the so-called “Charleston Loophole,” which allows a person to buy a gun whether or not they pass a background check, so long as that check takes longer than three days. That process is known as a “default proceed.”
The amendment, as adopted, would allow a transaction to proceed without a background check only after 30 days.
While 97% of background checks are completed within three days, those that take longer are four times as likely to result in a denial, according to the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety.
According to Notte, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is currently seeking nine firearms purchased in Vermont through “default proceed” whose owners ultimately failed a background check.
The Judiciary Committee approved the bill along party lines, with its four Republican members voting against the measure.
As initially introduced in the Senate last year, the bill would have banned firearms from hospitals, government buildings and child care centers. A whittled down version, prohibiting them only in hospitals, passed the Senate last March.
If the version advanced Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee were to pass the House, it would return to the Senate for that body to consider the new language closing the Charleston Loophole.
Opponents of the bill argued Tuesday in committee that making it a crime to knowingly possess a firearm in a hospital would do little to prevent violence.
“I really think it’s just a feel-good bill,” said Rep. Tom Burditt, R-West Rutland. “It’s not going to stop the person who’s going to want to do something.”
As amended, violating the bill if it were to become law would result in a fine of up to $250.
The bill also includes language allowing health care workers to inform law enforcement if they are concerned that a patient possesses a firearm, without violating medical privacy laws.
Rep. Kate Donnally, D-Hyde Park, who is also a therapist, said she has had patients struggling with mental health tell her that they don’t feel safe in possession of their own firearms. The bill would address similar situations, potentially preventing suicide and self-harm, Donnally said.
The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs opposed closing the Charleston Loophole.
Chris Bradley, president of the group, claimed in committee that closing the Charleston Loophole would not have stopped Dylann Roof from acquiring the gun he used to kill nine Black worshippers in Charleston, South Carolina in June 2015. Legislative Counsel Erik Fitzpatrick later refuted that testimony, providing documentation from the FBI showing that Roof would have failed a background check.
The committee also amended the bill to allow out-of-state residents to bring high-capacity magazines into Vermont for shooting competitions, a practice that was outlawed in 2018.
Despite the party-line vote, Burditt and fellow Republican Felisha Leffler, R-Enosburg Falls, agreed that the amendment moved S.30 in “a positive direction.”
“I think it really shows our committee is a good, functional committee,” said Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, who chairs the committee.
Clarification: This story has been updated to include an additional provision of S.30.
