The shadow of a gun across a wall. Photo courtesy New York State Senate
The bill would bar people from having guns, frames or receivers that lack serial numbers or transferring them to someone else.
by Norah White, Community News Service Lawmakers appear to be putting the final touches on a bill that prohibits the possession of ghost guns — firearms without serial numbers built at home using separately purchased parts.
Ghost guns are often built with ready-made kits or 3D-printed parts, and because the individual parts are not considered guns under federal law, they aren’t subject to the same regulations.
Law enforcement has a harder time tracking these guns, say supporters of the bill, S.209. The bill would bar people from having guns, frames or receivers that lack serial numbers or transferring them to someone else. That would apply to unfinished parts, too. It would also require people who build a gun or a receiver to get it imprinted with a serial number.
Legislators have been going back and forth on the punishments in the bill since it passed the Senate in February and the House late last month.
Here’s what senators wanted to see as of May 6:
Someone who possesses an unfinished frame or receiver, a fully built gun or a finished frame or receiver — all without serial numbers — would face a $50 fine on their first offense. On a second offense, the person would face up to two years in prison and up to a $1,000 fine, and for further offenses they’d face three years in prison max and up to $2,000 in fines. Those penalties are harsher than the ones proposed by House lawmakers when they passed the bill.
Transferring or building any of the regulated items without getting serial numbers printed on them would entail up to a year in prison and up to $500 in fines for a first-time offender. The penalties would go up to two years and a $1,000 max fine upon a second offense, and they’d rise to three years and up to $2,000 in fines upon further offenses.
The House concurred with the Senate version on May 8.
The bill was met with pushback from gun rights advocacy groups, such as the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen Clubs, which said it would do little to help crime rates and instead puts unnecessary rules on law-abiding citizens.
“I don’t care what law you pass. Criminals will always be able to get guns if they can 3D print them,” Chris Bradley, director of the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen Clubs, said in a February interview.
Supporters of the bill believe it is a step in the right direction for gun safety in Vermont, said Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, one of the bill’s lead sponsors, back in initial discussions.
Supporters believe that it will help decrease violent crime rates in the state, which have gone up in the past few years, said Conor Casey, the director of Gun Sense Vermont, one of the organizations backing the bill.
According to a story published in December by Vermont Public, gunshot deaths have increased since 2011.
The lack of serial numbers on ghost guns makes it more difficult to trace them to a crime.
The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
