Everytown for Gun Safety Releases 2024 State Gun Law Rankings, Vermont Sees Rank Move Up Two Spots to Eighteenth in the Nation

MONTPELIER, VT – Today, Everytown for Gun Safety launched the updated “Gun Law Rankings” for 2024, an online tool and website that ranks all 50 states based on the strength of their gun laws and catalogs gun safety laws state by state. This year, Everytown’s state gun law rankings also shows whether states’ rankings increased or decreased over the past year, reflecting progress made by passing common-sense gun safety policies or setbacks as a result of enacting dangerous measures backed by the gun lobby. Everytown’s analysis found that Vermont’s gun laws now rank eighteenth in the nation, moving up two spots from a rank of 20 last year. 

In 2023, gun-sense legislators in Vermont took action to pass common-sense gun safety policies to create a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases, enact a secure storage law, expand Vermont’s Extreme Risk law to allow family and household members to directly petition courts to temporarily limit access to guns by people in crisis, crack down on straw purchases and tampering with firearm serial numbers, invest in community violence prevention programs that address the root causes of violence, and more. 

“The progress made to strengthen our gun laws in Vermont is emblematic of the hard work that our volunteers have made to keep our communities safe,” said Jackie Wheel, a volunteer with the Vermont chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Just this past year, our lawmakers addressed the rising number of firearm suicides in the state by passing a gun suicide prevention legislative package. We look forward to continuing to partner with our gun sense legislators so that we can address emerging threats and increase education on secure storage and Extreme Risk laws so that they can be successfully implemented.” 

“When guns are the leading cause of death for young people in America, we need all hands on deck to combat this crisis, and Vermont has stepped up to the plate,” said Maddie Leroux, a volunteer leader with the University of Vermont Students Demand Action chapter. “My generation has been told over and over by adults that gun violence is simply inevitable, but we’re proving them wrong at every turn. Everytown’s ranking shows how we’re defying the odds here in Vermont and fighting to create a safer future for the next generation of students one gun safety law at a time.” 

In an average year, 77 people die and 65 are wounded by guns in Vermont. Gun violence costs Vermont $953.3 million each year, of which $8.7 million is paid by taxpayers. More information on gun violence in Vermont can be found here.

To speak with an expert about Everytown’s State Gun Law Rankings or gun violence prevention efforts in Vermont, please contact [email protected]