Vermont Gun Control Efforts Take Step Backward

There are some states, such as Vermont, that have something called “crossover day.” This is the day in which any bill that hasn’t been approved by one chamber is basically dead for this year.

Things with broad support usually don’t risk anything on crossover day because they don’t have a problem passing in the chamber they’re introduced in, but controversial bills are always at a bit of a time crunch. They have to get through or else.

Vermont is the state that saddled us with Bernie Sanders, so it would seem gun control would fall into that camp of stuff getting supported, not the controversial pile that risks crossover day. Except, if you’re like me in thinking that, well, you would be wrong.

In the state of Vermont, March 14 is considered Crossover Day, and despite being the home of Bernie Sanders, this doesn’t mean what you’re thinking, but I can’t blame you for going there. Instead, the name refers to a crossover deadline in the Vermont legislature when bills that fail to advance out of their chamber of origin are considered dead for the remainder of the session. Thanks to the efforts of pro-Second Amendment activists, lawmakers, and organizations like Gun Owners of America (GOA), the National Rifle Association (NRA), and local partners like the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, it seems not a single anti-gun proposal has survived the 2025 deadline. 

Peeling back the layers of this victory, we first turn to H.45, a bill aimed at disarming law-abiding patrons who visit any Vermont establishments that serve alcohol, creating one of those gun-free zones criminals are so fond of. Because who likes unruly victims? FAIL! 

Next, we have H.264, which proposes a safe storage requirement irrespective of whether a crime is committed with an increasing monetary penalty scale per transaction and varying rages prison time if the firearm ends up being used in the commission of a crime. FAIL!

H.368 is another attempt to create soft targets so criminals don’t have to live in fear of those who would defend themselves. This gun-free zone would have banned firearms in government buildings, disarming law-abiding citizens and government employees alike. FAIL!

Here’s one the pinko commies lust after. H.381 sought to ban both new purchases and possession of the most commonly owned semi-automatic firearms available. I feel like this is a “Holy Grail” measure for the left, and I am personally happy to see it as a Democrat’s electroencephalogram. FAIL!

Also not making the cut was a bill that would allow those who wish to bypass the 72-hour waiting limit to get a permit. While that may sound pro-gun, it’s still a gun registration effort dressed up in a different name. Then there’s a bill that would implement an 11 percent excise tax on gun sales, because screw poor people.

Now, Vermont has three parties represented in their General Assembly: Democrats, Progressives, and Republicans.

In both chambers, the Democrats and Progressives caucus together and outnumber Republicans, though only by a slim margin in the Senate. In the House, the difference is much starker.

And yet, these are House bills. They originated in the chamber where the ostensibly anti-gun side has a nearly 40-seat majority, and they couldn’t get the traction to pass.

Vermont hasn’t gone for a Republican president since 1988 and, again, has consistently sent socialist Bernie Sanders to Washington as one of its two senators. This is not a pro-gun state, and yet none of these measures could garner enough support to even get through the anti-gun House.

What is going on?

Well, it’s hard to say, if we’re being honest. However, my guess is that Vermont is remembering that they were, in fact, pretty pro-gun for a lot of years despite the strong blue lean to the entire state. After all, they’re still a constitutional carry state and while they have things like red flag laws and magazine restrictions, they also have preemption and things like no permit-to-purchase and no gun registration. 

So it seems like even the state’s Democrats–the party that tends to support gun control–have decided that enough is enough.

If only they’d done that sooner.

Still, it’s a nice win for gun rights in Vermont, which isn’t something I thought I’d be talking about.