The minimum age to purchase firearms in Vermont is 21 unless the person is a member of law enforcement or an active or veteran member of the National Guard or U.S. Armed Forces (16 if the purchaser is acquiring a long gun from a person who is not a licensed firearms dealer and the purchaser presents a certificate of completion of a hunter safety course recognized by the Vermont Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife).

The state of Vermont requires anyone purchasing a firearm from a licensed firearms dealer to complete a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms transaction form 4473. The dealer is also required to perform a National Instant Criminal Background Check System check on the purchaser. If the buyer is flagged and disallowed from purchasing for unjustified reasons, an appeal process is possible, including challenging results of a criminal background check.

Under Vermont law, an unlicensed person cannot transfer a firearm to another unlicensed person without the assistance of a licensed firearms dealer, with few exceptions, including a transfer by or to a law enforcement officer and transfers from one immediate family member to another. The law defines immediate family members as “spouse, parent, stepparent, child, stepchild, sibling, stepsibling, grandparent, step-grandparent, grandchild, step-grandchild, great-grandparent, step-great-grandparent, great-grandchild and step-great-grandchild.”

State law also prohibits the manufacture, possession, transfer, sale, purchase or receipt or importation into Vermont of large-capacity ammunition feeding devices. This prohibition does not apply to large-capacity ammunition feeding devices lawfully possessed on or before April 11, 2018, and the prohibition on importation into Vermont does “not include the transportation back into this state of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device by the same person who transported the device out of state if the person possessed the device on or before” April 11, 2018, according to state law. 

High-capacity magazines include handgun magazine that hold more than 15 rounds and rifle magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. The possession or sale of bump stocks is also banned.

Additionally, Vermont allows for ownership of Class 3 firearms and firearm accessories, including machine guns, suppressors, short-barrel rifles, short shotguns — everything legal under the National Firearms Act registry. Use of suppressors is limited to shooting sports ranges; suppressors are not legal for hunting in Vermont.