Vermont House Votes to Raise Age for Gun Buys

The Vermont House has voted to raise the legal age state residents can purchase guns from 18 to 21.

Vermont Public Radio reports the vote was one of several that followed a 10-hour debate by lawmakers on gun restriction legislation Friday. Final approval of the measure is scheduled for Tuesday.

The House also voted to expand background checks to private sales of firearms and to ban high-capacity magazines and devices known as "bump stocks" that allow semi-automatic guns to function like automatic guns.

Supporters and opponents of the legislation packed the House chambers.

The push for gun control legislation came after Vermont police broke up what they said was a plot by a Poultney teenager to shoot up the Fair Haven Union High School. He was arrested a day after the Feb. 14 shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school that killed 17.