Senate advances S.209, dubbed Vermont Ghost Guns Act; committee amendment adopted 26-3, third reading ordered

The Vermont Senate on the floor advanced S.209, titled in debate as the "Vermont Ghost Guns Act," adopting a Judiciary Committee amendment by roll call vote 26-3 and ordering the bill for third reading. The measure would require that unfinished frames, receivers and firearms produced by 3-D printers or assembled from kits be imprinted with a serial number and pass a background check once they reach an operable or near-operable stage.

Senator from Chittenden Central, the bill's reporter, told colleagues the bill is intended to close a technology-driven loophole that allows weapons to evade the background-check system. "It does not prohibit somebody from producing a gun in their basement," the senator said, "but once it reaches the operable or near operable stage, you need to imprint it with a serial number at which time a background…