In the wake of two deadly mass shootings, Vermont’s congressional delegation is pushing to enact new gun control measures at the federal level — including expanded background checks, and bans on high capacity magazines.
After shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, earlier this month, which together left 31 dead, Democrats have renewed the call to pass firearms restrictions.
But Republicans including President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have resisted moving forward with gun control bills the House passed earlier this year, despite mounting pressure this month.
Vermont’s only House member, Democrat Rep. Peter Welch, said Thursday he believes that if Republican leadership in the Senate brought the gun control measures to the floor, they could pass — though he said support from President Donald Trump is the biggest barrier.
“Frankly, I think if a number of the House bills were put on the floor of the Senate there’d probably be a very good chance of those passing,” Welch said. “But the person who’s going to be key to what happens in the Republican Senate is the Republican president.”
“So it’s really pretty clear: Donald Trump has the ability to say yes or no to gun safety,” he said.
Following the shootings, at first Trump signaled a willingness to pursue new gun restrictions, including expanded background checks.
But after a taking a call on Tuesday with the CEO of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, he backed off and said new background check legislation wasn’t necessary.
“We have very, very strong background checks right now, but we have sort of missing areas and areas that don’t complete the whole circle,” Trump told reporters. “I have to tell you that it’s a mental problem.”
The House of Representatives this year already passed legislation to expand background checks to private gun sales. They also passed legislation that would extend the period a prospective gun buyer must wait for a background check to be completed before receiving a firearm.
Under current law, if a background check isn’t processed within three days, gun buyers can receive their weapons before they pass or fail. This loophole is what allowed the gunman in the 2015 Charleston church shooting to obtain a firearm, even though he ultimately failed his background check.
Other legislation that has been proposed and seen bipartisan support in the Senate would help establish red flag laws — measures that allow law enforcement to take guns away from those they determine to pose imminent danger.
The House Judiciary Committee plans to return from its summer recess early next month to work on additional gun control measures including bills to ban high capacity magazines, and prevent those convicted of misdemeanor hate crimes from purchasing a gun.
Speaking on CNN Thursday, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., expressed support for a ban on high capacity magazines.
“In Vermont… we limit the number of rounds you can have in your semiautomatic during deer season to six rounds to give the deer a chance,” Leahy said.
“I’d like to give children, children who are in a school, a chance. People who are going to a concert, give them a chance,” he said.
All three members of Vermont’s delegation have also said they support a ban on assault weapons, though Democratic leaders appear reluctant to move forward with the measure, and have put their focus on pressuring Republicans to extend background checks.
In an interview with the Des Moines Register days after the mass shootings, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., campaigning in Iowa, called for additional licensing requirements for assault weapons in addition to expanded background checks and other measures.
He said that just banning assault weapon purchases wouldn’t address between 5 million and 10 million already in circulation. He also pointed to licensing requirements for machine guns that were enacted in the 1980s.
“Right now, very few people own machine guns as a result of that,” Sanders told the paper.
“We’ve got to very heavily license assault weapons, right now.”
While he has suggested that he won’t support new sweeping gun control measures in Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott has called on Congress to pass red flag laws and expand background checks after the recent shootings.
“I’d like to see them take action,” Scott said.
“Whether it’s immigration, or gun safety measures, I think we’re just waiting for Congress to do something, rather than just this partisan, polarization divide that we’re witnessing across our country.”
In Vermont, Democratic lawmakers have said in the weeks following the mass shootings that they are poised to introduce legislation to establish a 48-hour waiting period for gun purchases next year. This comes after Scott vetoed legislation that would have established a 24-hour waiting period for handgun purchases earlier this year, and gun control advocates argued the measure would help lower the state’s suicide rate.