Gun Laws in Vermont: Constitutional Carry, Waiting Period, and Storage

Vermont gun laws let any adult who can legally possess a firearm carry it openly or concealed without a permit, but buying one still requires passing a background check through a licensed dealer, waiting 72 hours, being at least 21, and following state limits on magazines, storage, and restricted places. The carry side is unusually permissive; the purchase and transfer side involves real paperwork and criminal penalties for cutting corners.

Carrying a Firearm in Vermont

Vermont has never required a permit to carry a handgun or long gun, openly or concealed. There is no application, fee, training requirement, or government approval. Lawful carry depends entirely on whether you are legally allowed to possess a firearm, not on holding a specific license. The rule applies to residents and nonresidents alike.

Because Vermont issues no carry permit, residents who travel out of state cannot use reciprocity agreements that require a home-state permit. If you plan to carry across state lines, check the destination state’s rules on your own before you go.

Who Can Buy a Firearm

Vermont prohibits the sale of any firearm to a person under 21. The restriction covers licensed dealers and private sellers. A seller who violates the law faces up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.¹

Three groups under 21 are exempt: law enforcement officers, active or veteran members of the National Guard or U.S. Armed Forces, and anyone who presents a certificate showing completion of a hunter safety course approved by the Vermont Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife.¹ The statute restricts sales only, so gifts and other non-sale transfers to people under 21 fall outside it.

Federal law adds its own disqualifiers. Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, and anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, is barred from possessing firearms.²

Background Checks and the 72-Hour Waiting Period

Every sale through a licensed dealer runs through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.³ After the dealer gets a unique identification number from NICS confirming the buyer passed, the dealer must then wait 72 hours before completing the transfer. If NICS has not responded within seven business days of the check, the transfer may proceed anyway.⁴

The waiting period does not apply to transfers that are exempt from background checks under federal law or under Vermont’s private transfer statute, and it does not apply when a dealer returns a firearm to its owner after serializing it. Violating the waiting period can bring up to one year of imprisonment, a fine of up to $500, or both.⁴

Private Sales and Gifts

To sell, trade, or gift a firearm to another private individual, both parties must appear together before a licensed dealer with the gun. The dealer runs a NICS check on the recipient and treats it like any retail sale.⁵ The 72-hour wait applies here too. Dealers typically charge between $25 and $75 to facilitate the transfer.

Transferring directly without a dealer is a criminal offense. A first violation can mean up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $500, or both.⁵

Four categories of transfers are exempt from the background check requirement:

Transfers between immediate family: spouses, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren, including step-relations.⁶
Transfers by or to a law enforcement agency.⁶
Transfers involving law enforcement officers or Armed Forces members acting in an official capacity.⁶
Transfers made to prevent imminent harm, for as long as the risk persists.⁶

Magazine Limits and Bump Stocks

Vermont caps magazine capacity at 15 rounds for handguns and 10 rounds for long guns. The law covers any magazine, belt, drum, or similar device that holds or can be readily converted to accept more than those limits.⁷

If you owned a large-capacity device before April 11, 2018, you may keep it, and you may transport it out of state and bring it back.⁸ Devices acquired after that date are subject to the ban on sale, purchase, possession, manufacture, and importation.

Bump-fire stocks are separately banned. Possession carries up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.⁹

Where You Cannot Carry

Permitless carry does not open every door. Several locations are off limits under state or federal law.

Schools

Firearms are prohibited inside school buildings and on school buses. A first offense carries up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. A second or subsequent offense raises the maximum to three years and $5,000. Possessing a firearm on school property with intent to injure someone brings up to three years for a first offense and five for subsequent violations.¹⁰ School boards may authorize exceptions for specific occasions or instructional purposes.

Courthouses

Carrying a firearm in a courthouse without the court’s authorization carries up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $500. Courthouses certified by the Court Administrator as secured buildings prohibit all dangerous weapons entirely, regardless of authorization.¹¹

Federal Buildings

Federal law bars firearms from any federal facility, meaning a building or portion of a building owned or leased by the federal government where employees regularly work. That covers federal courthouses, post offices, Social Security offices, VA buildings, and similar locations. A violation carries up to one year in prison, two years for federal court facilities, and five years if the weapon was brought with intent to commit a crime.¹²

Private Property

Property owners and businesses can prohibit firearms on their premises. Entering with a firearm after being told guns are not allowed, or ignoring a prominently posted sign, can support trespassing charges. Vermont has no statewide standard for how a sign must look, so any clear notice works.

Safe Storage

If you store a firearm in premises under your control and you know, or reasonably should know, that a child or a prohibited person could access it, you can be held criminally liable. If the child or prohibited person then uses the firearm in a crime or displays it threateningly, the penalty reaches up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. If the unsecured firearm causes death or serious bodily injury, the charge becomes a felony with up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.¹³

If you live with children or anyone who cannot legally possess a firearm, use a locked container, a trigger lock, or a similar safety device. This is one of the areas where Vermont gun owners most often run into trouble without realizing the law applies to them.

Self-Defense

Vermont’s self-defense framework comes mainly from statute and common law. Under the justifiable homicide statute, a person is guiltless for killing or wounding another in the just and necessary defense of their own life or anyone else’s life. Deadly force is also justified when you reasonably believe you or another person is in imminent danger from someone attempting murder, sexual assault, burglary, or robbery.¹⁴

The statute preserves defenses available at common law. Vermont has not enacted an explicit no-duty-to-retreat statute, so juries evaluate self-defense claims under common-law standards of reasonableness and proportionality. The circumstances of each case drive the outcome rather than a bright-line rule.

Straw Purchases

Vermont has its own straw purchase law on top of the federal prohibition. You cannot buy a firearm for, on behalf of, or at the request of someone you know or reasonably should know is barred from possessing firearms, intends to use it in a felony, or plans to pass it to a person who falls into either category. The penalty reaches up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $50,000, or both. An exception applies when the purchase was coerced through threats.¹⁵

Reckless Handling

Carrying legally does not shield you from charges if you handle the gun recklessly. Vermont’s reckless endangerment statute treats any conduct that recklessly places another person in danger of death or serious injury as a crime punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. Pointing a firearm at or in the direction of another person creates a legal presumption of recklessness, regardless of whether the gun is loaded.¹⁶

Extreme Risk Protection Orders

Courts can temporarily remove firearms from individuals who pose an immediate danger. A State’s Attorney, the Attorney General’s office, or a family or household member may petition for an Extreme Risk Protection Order. The petitioner must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the person poses a danger to themselves or others. If granted, the order prohibits the person from purchasing, possessing, or controlling any dangerous weapon for up to six months.¹⁷ Failing to surrender firearms as directed carries criminal penalties even though the order itself is civil.

Suppressors and NFA Items

Vermont allows possession of suppressors but restricts their use. They can legally be used at a sport shooting range, while hunting under the authority of the Fish and Wildlife Department, or by law enforcement and National Guard members in the course of their duties. Manufacturing and importing suppressors is limited to federally licensed manufacturers and importers, or individuals who comply with federal registration requirements.¹⁸ Suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and other National Firearms Act items still require federal registration through the ATF.

No Local Gun Ordinances

Vermont preempts local firearm regulation. Cities, towns, and incorporated villages cannot regulate the possession, ownership, transportation, sale, purchase, carrying, licensing, or registration of firearms or ammunition. The rules above apply uniformly across the state, so you will not run into a patchwork of local ordinances when you travel within Vermont. Private property rules and federal building restrictions still apply wherever they would otherwise.

1
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13-4020 – Sale of Firearms to Persons Under 21 Years of Age Prohibited
2
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Identify Prohibited Persons
3
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Firearms Checks (NICS)
4
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 4019a – Firearms Transfers; Waiting Period
5
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 4019 – Firearms Transfers; Background Checks
6
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13-4019 – Firearms Transfers; Background Checks
7
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 4021 – Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Devices
8
Vermont Department of Public Safety. New Vermont Gun Laws FAQs
9
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 4022 – Bump-Fire Stocks; Possession Prohibited
10
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 4004 – Possession of Dangerous or Deadly Weapon in a School Bus or School Building or on School Property
11
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 4016 – Weapons in Court
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 930 – Possession of Firearms and Dangerous Weapons in Federal Facilities
13
U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Vermont. Vermont Secure Storage Law
14
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 2305 – Justifiable Homicide
15
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Chapter 85 – Weapons
16
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 1025 – Recklessly Endangering Another Person
17
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 4053 – Extreme Risk Protection Orders
18
Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Code 13 Section 4010 – Gun Suppressors