Vermont

Vermont has never had any state permit requirement for carrying a handgun, open or concealed — the longest-standing 'constitutional carry' state in the country. Vermont issues permits only for out-of-state reciprocity purposes, not as a domestic legal requirement.

Vermont has no statute prohibiting firearms in places of worship; carry there is a property-owner decision.

Vermont requires no permit to carry and is widely understood to have essentially no locational carry restrictions, but a direct fetch of the relevant statute (13 V.S.A. § 4016) failed (SSL error), and I have no other confirming source from this session's research. Marking conditional rather than asserting a confirmed yes.

Vermont is a constitutional-carry state with, by design, one of the shortest prohibited-place lists in the country, and a CCW-law summary site describes no boat/vessel restriction. However, I could not independently verify this against Vermont's primary statute (13 V.S.A. and related 2023-24 school-safety amendments) within this research, so I'm treating the secondary source as corroboration rather than confirmation.

13 V.S.A. §4016 bars carrying a firearm inside a courthouse (as designated by the Vermont Supreme Court) without authorization from the court — courthouses are off-limits absent that authorization. Separately, a Vermont Department of Buildings & General Services administrative rule (Admin. Rule 10-050-003) bans firearms in 'State Buildings' generally, which would reach a state-run office like a state DMV counter. Neither provision reaches a purely municipal building like a city hall, which is not restricted at the state level (Vermont has essentially no statewide CCW permit system — anyone who can legally possess a firearm may carry it).

No Vermont statute bans campus carry directly; state law affirmatively authorizes colleges/universities to ban all weapons from campus, and as of Feb. 2024 every Vermont public and private institution (including UVM) had exercised that authority to prohibit concealed carry.

Vermont has never required a permit to carry concealed for residents or visitors (State v. Rosenthal, 1903, and current practice), and has no gun-specific business-signage statute. A property owner may exclude a carrier under ordinary trespass law (13 V.S.A. § 3705), but carry is presumptively lawful absent that notice. Vermont does issue permits solely for reciprocity purposes with other states.

No VT statute requires advance owner consent; general unlawful-trespass law (13 V.S.A. 3705) requires notice before presence becomes unlawful (opt-out default). Constitutional-carry state (no permit needed for carry at all).

No Vermont source I found lists airports among restricted locations; Vermont's list (per usacarry.com) is short — school buses/buildings/property, courthouses, and US federal buildings — consistent with Vermont's status as one of the most permissive carry states in the country (no permit required at all for residents 18+). That's suggestive of 'yes' but not an affirmative confirmation for airports specifically.

Vermont has never had a carry-license system — no permit is required to carry openly or concealed anywhere in the state, including in a vehicle. The one carve-out: a LOADED rifle or shotgun (not handguns) in/on a motor vehicle within a public highway right-of-way is prohibited, with exceptions for law enforcement and permitted disabled hunters.

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, §4023 prohibits knowing possession of a firearm in a hospital. I was unable to independently pull the Vermont legislature's own statute page (repeated certificate error) so this rests on Giffords' quoted statutory text rather than a page I read directly — worth a follow-up direct check of legislature.vermont.gov before publishing as certain.

Vermont has never required a permit for in-state concealed carry. Its weapons-in-schools statute (13 V.S.A. §4004) is limited to school buildings, buses, and school property; the only vehicle-related firearm restriction found elsewhere is a ban on loaded rifles/shotguns in vehicles on the public highway right-of-way (handguns unaffected). No rest-area-specific restriction found. Verified against the statute text directly.

Vermont has no concealed-carry permit requirement and no statute found requiring disclosure of concealed carry to law enforcement.

Vermont issues no concealed carry permit to anyone, resident or non-resident — it has never had a licensing system ("Vermont carry"), so there is nothing to apply for. Any adult who may lawfully possess a firearm, resident or visitor, may carry openly or concealed without any permit.

Vt. Stat. tit. 13 §4004(a) bans knowingly possessing a firearm within a school building or on a school bus; no exception is identified for a permit holder — Vermont in any case has no traditional statewide concealed-carry licensing/verification scheme of its own (it is longstanding permitless-carry), so there generally isn't a Vermont-issued license that could satisfy the federal §922(q) verification-based exception in the first place. School boards may authorize firearms for specific instructional occasions.

Vermont's weapons chapter (13 V.S.A. ch. 85) has no provision making a "no guns" sign on private premises enforceable, so a sign at a business is enforced, if at all, through the general trespass statute. 13 V.S.A. § 3705(a)(1) makes it a misdemeanor (up to 3 months in jail and/or a $500 fine) to enter or remain, without legal authority or the consent of the person in lawful possession, where notice against trespass is given by actual communication or by "signs or placards so designed and situated as to give reasonable notice"; the two methods are alternatives, so a sign alone is enough. Notice by sign is judged objectively, so the State need not prove the defendant saw or understood the sign (State v. Pixley, 2018 VT 110, ¶ 13; State v. Richards, 2021 VT 40, ¶ 25), but notice by actual communication, such as being told to leave, is judged subjectively (State v. MacFarland, 2021 VT 87, ¶¶ 34-35). Prosecution must begin within 60 days (§ 3705(b)). § 3705 does not mention firearms, and Pixley (a vacant farmhouse) and MacFarland (oral notice at a bar) did not involve a gun-specific sign at a business open to the public, so how § 3705 applies to such a sign is unsettled.

24 V.S.A. § 2295 broadly preempts municipal regulation of carrying/possession, and Burlington's 2013 assault-weapon/magazine ordinance was effectively blocked as preempted (never enforced). BUT Burlington is a real, named, recurring exception fight: the statute itself cross-references municipal authority under 24 V.S.A. § 2291(8), and Burlington has repeatedly sought special charter authority from the legislature to regulate firearms locally (e.g., a 2015 charter change on guns in bars/domestic-violence situations, and a 2025 bill, S.131, that Governor Scott moved to veto) — so whether Burlington specifically can impose stricter local rules has been an unsettled, live political/legal question rather than fully closed.

13 V.S.A. § 4027(a)(1) (enacted 2024): 'A person shall not knowingly possess a firearm at a polling place or on the walks leading to a building in which a polling place is located on an election day.' Also applies to the town clerk's office during early voting. No exception found for permit holders (Vermont does not have a general CCW licensing regime — carry is permitless — making this a flat location ban).

10-round limit for long guns, 15-round limit for handguns (13 V.S.A. § 4021, enacted 2017, effective April 11, 2018), with a grandfather clause for magazines lawfully possessed before enactment. Exemptions for lever/bolt-action, antiques/curios, and .22 rimfire tubular magazines.

Extreme Risk Protection Order, 13 V.S.A. § 4051 et seq. (2018). Petitioners: a State's Attorney, the Office of the Attorney General, or a family/household member (the State's Attorney is substituted as plaintiff once an order issues or before the hearing).

No Vermont statute bans civilian possession of suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, or machine guns; 13 V.S.A. § 4010 restricts unlicensed manufacture/importation of suppressors, not simple possession. A 2022 law legalized using a suppressor while hunting. Machine guns: no general possession ban, but Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 10, § 4704 bars using/carrying a machine gun while hunting (a use restriction); federal law further limits civilians to pre-May 19, 1986 machine guns. No extra Vermont license or registration beyond the federal NFA process for any category.

No SYG statute, but the Vermont Supreme Court in State v. Hatcher, 167 Vt. 338, 348, 706 A.2d 429 (1997) held that where a person honestly and reasonably believes deadly force is immediately necessary, "the law does not require him to retreat" — reflected in the Vermont Model Criminal Jury Instructions. No duty to retreat anywhere lawfully present.

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13, § 4019 (enacted 2018, effective April 11, 2018; tightened in 2022 to close the 'Charleston loophole' by requiring a NICS confirmation number or a 7-business-day wait before transfer) requires most private firearm transfers to be processed through a licensed dealer for a background check; exceptions for law enforcement and immediate family transfers.

13 V.S.A. §4010 doesn't ban possession, but limits lawful use of a gun suppressor to law enforcement, the Vermont National Guard, a licensed manufacturer/importer testing devices, someone lawfully using a sport shooting range, or someone taking game as authorized under Title 10 — ordinary use outside those contexts (e.g. home defense) is a per-offense fine, effective since Vermont legalized suppressors in 2015.

No Vermont statute restricts machine gun possession beyond federal NFA compliance; Vermont's only related enactments are a hunting-method rule and a 2018 bump-stock ban (13 V.S.A. §4022), neither of which reaches a lawfully-registered machine gun.

No Vermont statute was found restricting short-barreled rifle possession beyond ordinary federal NFA registration and tax-stamp compliance.

No Vermont statute was found restricting short-barreled shotgun possession beyond ordinary federal NFA registration and tax-stamp compliance.

13 V.S.A. §1603's definition of 'destructive device' expressly states 'a destructive device does not include a firearm or ammunition therefor,' so an NFA-classified destructive device falls outside Vermont's bomb-possession statute (§1604) entirely; AOWs aren't separately regulated either.