MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – House lawmakers on Wednesday signed off on a bill to crack down on so-called ghost guns in Vermont after making some changes.
The bill prohibits the possession and transfer of unregulated and unserialized guns, and it establishes a process for federal firearms dealers to print serial numbers on guns. S.209 would ban guns in certain buildings.
Wednesday, the House updated the bill to commission a report on which buildings firearms would be banned from and whether the decisions should be made by each municipality or by state statute.
It now heads back to the Senate for approval.
Nationally, the U.S. Department of Justice says the number of ghost guns recovered by law enforcement agencies increased by more than 1,300% from 2016 to 2022.
Gun control groups have praised the action, saying it will save lives.