Vermont's Republican governor to sign new gun restrictions

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(AP Photo/Lisa Rathke, File). FILE - In this May 24, 2017 file photo, Republican Vermont Gov. Phil Scott speaks to the media in Montpelier, Vt. Scott is set to sign the first significant gun restrictions in the state's history during a Statehouse cerem... (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke, File). FILE - In this May 24, 2017 file photo, Republican Vermont Gov. Phil Scott speaks to the media in Montpelier, Vt. Scott is set to sign the first significant gun restrictions in the state's history during a Statehouse cerem...
(AP Photo/Wilson Ring, File). FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2018 file photo, gun control advocates demonstrate at the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier, Vt. Gov. Phil Scott is set to sign the first significant gun restrictions in the state's history during a ... (AP Photo/Wilson Ring, File). FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2018 file photo, gun control advocates demonstrate at the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier, Vt. Gov. Phil Scott is set to sign the first significant gun restrictions in the state's history during a ...
(AP Photo/Wilson Ring, File). FILE - In this March 27, 2018, file photo, gun control opponents wearing hunter orange pack the gallery in the Vermont House of Representatives in Montpelier, Vt. Gov. Phil Scott is set to sign the first significant gun re... (AP Photo/Wilson Ring, File). FILE - In this March 27, 2018, file photo, gun control opponents wearing hunter orange pack the gallery in the Vermont House of Representatives in Montpelier, Vt. Gov. Phil Scott is set to sign the first significant gun re...

By WILSON RING
Associated Press

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Vermont's Republican governor is set to sign the first significant gun restrictions in the state's history during a ceremony on Wednesday.

Weather permitting, Gov. Phil Scott plans to sign the bills on the Statehouse steps as supporters and opponents of gun control look on.

Scott, a gun owner, said he knows some people will be upset by the new laws, but that they will adjust when they realize the laws will not restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

The three recently-passed bills that Scott is expected to sign would require universal background checks, increase the age to buy firearms from 18 to 21 and ban high-capacity magazines and rapid-fire devices known as bump stocks. Two other pieces of legislation would make it easier to take guns from people who are believed to pose a threat to themselves and others and take guns from suspects in cases of domestic violence.

Vermont's push for gun restrictions came after a Poultney teenager was arrested and charged with planning to kill as many people as possible at Fair Haven Union High School.

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