MONTPELIER, Vt. – The Vermont Legislature has unanimously passed two more bills to help prevent gun violence.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott says he plans to sign them into law publicly, plus one passed last week that would raise the legal age for gun purchases and expand background checks for private gun sales.
In separate votes, the House and Senate gave final approval Thursday to bills passed by the other chamber.
The Senate voted 30-0 to make it easier for police to take firearms from people in dangerous situations. The House voted 133-0 in favor of a separate bill that makes it easier for police to remove firearms from people suspected in cases of domestic violence.
Last week’s bill also would ban high-capacity magazines and rapid-fire devices known as bump stocks.
In Rhode Island, an emergency physician and a former state police major who’s a National Rifle Association member will lead a state task force that will study how to strengthen that state’s gun laws.
Gov. Gina Raimondo named Narragansett Town Administrator James Manni, an NRA member who spent 25 years with the Rhode Island State Police, and Dr. Megan Ranney, who also is a professor at Brown University, to lead the task force. The group includes 41 other members from a variety of professional backgrounds.
The Democratic governor said she wants the group to come up with suggestions for lasting, sustainable reform.
“We’re doing it because we have to. This is about saving lives and making Rhode Island safer for everybody,” Raimondo said.
Raimondo created the group after a February mass shooting at a Florida high school left 17 people dead. She also directed police statewide to use all available legal steps to remove firearms from people who pose a threat. Her order didn’t grant any new authority to take away guns.
The General Assembly is considering a law to expand that authority, and Raimondo said Thursday she hopes lawmakers will pass it.
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