For the longest time, Vermont stood as a curious exception among states with Democrat- dominated governments, having practically no gun control laws. Constitutional carry was the tradition since the founding of the state and was sometimes called Vermont Carry in the Second Amendment community. 

That sadly changed in 2018 when a swathe of new laws like (unenforceable) background checks for private sales, “high-capacity” magazine ban, a bump stock ban, red flag laws, and raising the age requirement were passed, proving to the Second Amendment community that no state is safe from the rapacious Gun Grab Lobby even if it has a centuries-long tradition of unimpeded gun ownership and low violence rates going back to the founding era.

Continuing the assault on the Second Amendment, the Vermont legislature passed a new bill which was signed into law by Republican Governor Phil Scott last week. This new law extends the background check “default proceed” duration from 3 days to 7 days, allowing the government to further delay the exercise of Second Amendment rights when the “instant” background check system doesn’t instantly return a clear answer.

Another thing that the law does is ban guns from hospitals (Archived link). 

Sec. 1. 13 V.S.A. § 4023 is added to read:

• 4023. POSSESSION OF FIREARMS IN HOSPITAL BUILDINGS PROHIBITED

(a) A person shall not knowingly possess a firearm while within a hospital building.

(b) A person who violates this section shall be fined not more than $250.00.

(c) This section shall not apply to a firearm possessed by a federal law enforcement officer or a law enforcement officer certified as a law enforcement officer by the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council pursuant to 20 V.S.A. § 2358, for legitimate law enforcement purposes.

(d) Notice of the provisions of this section shall be posted conspicuously at each public entrance to each hospital.

The new law bans guns from hospital buildings, theoretically. There will be new signs saying that guns are banned from hospital buildings posted at public entrances. While law-abiding people will comply, all that the new law does is make a hospital a free-fire zone for a madman.

There is an unfortunate precedent for this: the 2017 Bronx-Lebanon Hospital attack in New York City. For those who may not know, on June 30, 2017, a doctor who had resigned two years earlier after being accused of sexual harassment, returned to his former place of employment, and killed a fellow doctor and wounded six people before killing himself. New York City is as horrible as it can get with gun laws. You practically can’t buy a gun, and you may as well forget carrying one. And as anyone with half a brain could anticipate, those laws banning the carrying of guns didn’t stop a hospital shooting.

The New York Times did some reporting on the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital attack back in 2017 without any mention of the NY SAFE Act. And in their follow-up report, the NYT wondered how the assailant was able to get a gun and commit a massacre despite that law, not to mention the minefield of gun laws that can land an ordinary person behind bars for a long period of time. 

It looks like Vermont’s Democrat legislature and Republican governor are on the same page as the clueless New York Times. They passed laws a few years ago to make themselves feel better, passed more laws this year, and will scratch their heads when a madman breaks them in the future as did the NYT.

The hospitals might as well post Exorcist-inspired signs that say, “The power of Gun Control compels you!” Maybe then will someone consumed by evil in his heart listen to the better angels of his nature and refrain from violence.