Vermont has no law:

• Prohibiting individuals subject to domestic violence protective orders from possessing firearms or ammunition, although federal law  applies;
• Requiring courts to notify people convicted of or subject court orders for domestic violence that they are prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition;
• Requiring the removal or surrender of firearms at the time a domestic violence protective order is issued; or
• Requiring the removal of firearms at the scene of a domestic violence incident.

In 2015, Vermont enacted a law prohibiting individuals who have been convicted of a violent crime from possessing a firearm.¹ The definition of “violent crime” includes domestic violence misdemeanor offenses including domestic assault, stalking, sexual assault, and aggravated assault crimes.² Under Vermont law, “domestic assault” only includes offenses against family or household members,³ but misdemeanor stalking, sexual assault, and aggravated assault offenses against any person would trigger the firearm prohibition.⁴

Though Vermont law does not prohibit individuals subject to domestic violence relief from abuse orders from possessing firearms or ammunition, Vermont does provide that a court issuing relief from abuse orders for family or household members may make such orders as it deems necessary to protect the plaintiff and/or the children. The Supreme Court of Vermont has found that this provision authorizes the court to prohibit a defendant from possessing firearms.⁵ If courts issue such an order prohibiting a respondent from accessing firearms, the respondent is required to relinquish any firearms and ammunition in his or her possession to a law enforcement agency or an approved federally licensed firearms dealer.⁶ The court issuing the protective order may order that the subject of the order relinquish the firearms and ammunition in his or her possession to someone other than a law enforcement agency or approved federally licensed firearms dealer, unless the court finds that the relinquishment to the other person will not adequately protect the safety of the victim.⁷ In 2022, Vermont extended this discretionary firearms relinquishment relief option to emergency relief from abuse orders.⁸

In 2018, Vermont also passed legislation authorizing (but not requiring) law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms in certain cases where the officer is arresting or citing a person for domestic assault.⁹ In such cases, an officer may temporarily remove firearms that are in the perpetrator’s immediate possession or control, in plain view at the scene of the assault, or discovered during a lawful search, if doing so is necessary for the protection of the officer, the perpetrator, the victim, or a family member of the victim or perpetrator.¹⁰ The officer may also remove firearms that are illegally possessed or that will be used as evidence in a criminal proceeding.¹¹

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1. See 2015 VT S.B. 141, enacting Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 4017.[↩]
2. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, §§ 4017(d)(3), 5301(7).[↩]
3. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, §§ 1042-44[↩]
4. See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, §§ 5301(7), 1062-63, 3252-53, 1024.[↩]
5. Benson v. Muscari (2001) 172 Vt. 1, 769 A.2d 1291 (interpreting Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 15, § 1103(c).[↩]
6. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 20, § 2307(b).[↩]
7. Id.[↩]
8. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 15, § 1104(a)(1)(E).[↩]
9. 2017 VT H 422.[↩]
10. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 1048(a).[↩]
11. Id.[↩]