Vermont’s new gun safety bill goes into effect July 1. Here’s what Vermonters need to know.

Yahoo News

Vermont’s Republican Gov. Phil Scott has signed into law a bill that Democratic lawmakers have referred to as a gun safety bill.

The bill was a compromise after Scott vetoed a similar bill, S.30, in February. The Senate voted to override the governor’s veto, but also chose to move forward with the compromise bill, S.4, which Scott had signaled he would sign, according to news releases from Senate Pro Tempore, Democrat Becca Balint.

The sticking point had been the length of the maximum waiting period for people purchasing guns to allow for background checks before the sale proceeds — reducing the so-called Charleston Loophole. Lawmakers had initially suggested having that waiting period be 30 days.

The bill, signed March 25, will take effect on July 1.

Here’s what S.4 changes for Vermont’s gun owners:

• The maximum waiting period for background checks to take place before a gun sale can proceed will be extended from three days to seven days. If a licensed dealer facilitating the gun’s transfer has not received a unique identification number from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System within seven days, the sale can proceed.
• Firearms will be banned from being brought into hospital buildings. This rule does not apply to federal or state law enforcement officers who carry firearms as part of their jobs.
• Health care providers will be able to notify law enforcement when they believe that disclosure of certain information is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious or imminent threat to a person they are treating or to the public. This includes circumstances in which the provider “reasonably believes that the patient poses an extreme risk of causing harm to themselves or another person by purchasing, possessing, or receiving a dangerous weapon or by having a dangerous weapon within the patient’s custody or control.”

• Vermonters suspected of abuse and subject to an extreme risk protection order will be required to immediately relinquish all firearms in their possession and refrain from purchasing other firearms until the order expires.

A list of all the bills on which Scott has taken action during the 2022 Legislative session can be found at governor.vermont.gov/governor-scotts-blog/action-taken-governor-scott-bills-during-2022-legislative-session.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/vermonts-gun-safety-bill-goes-090125951.html