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Vermont has no law restricting machine guns, except in the hunting context.1 However, in 2018, the state enacted a limited ban on possession of certain “bump-fire stocks”2 if they are designed to be attached to a semiautomatic firearm and intended to increase the rate of fire achievable with the firearm to that of a fully automatic firearm.3

Federal law requires machine guns to be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), and generally prohibits the transfer or possession of machine guns manufactured after May 19, 1986.4 In December 2018, ATF finalized a rule to include bump stocks within the definition of a machine gun subject to this federal law, meaning that bump stocks will be generally banned as of March 26, 2019.5

 See our Machine Guns/ Automatic Firearms policy summary for a comprehensive discussion of this issue. 

  1. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 10, § 4704.[]
  2. See 2017 VT S 55, Sec. 9. A “bump-fire stock” is defined to mean”a butt stock designed to be attached to a semiautomatic firearm and intended to increase the rate of fire achievable with the firearm to that of a fully automatic firearm by using the energy from the recoil of the firearm to generate a reciprocating action that facilitates the repeated activation of the trigger. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 4022(a).[]
  3. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 4022.[]
  4. 18 U.S.C. § 922(o); 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d).[]
  5. Bump-Stock-Type Devices, 83 Fed. Reg. 66,514 (Dec. 26, 2018) (to be codified at 27 C.F.R. pts. 447, 478, 479).[]