Vermont lawmakers have removed a provision in a sweeping gun bill

 Vermont lawmakers have removed a provision in a sweeping gun bill over constitutional questions. S.4 expands background checks to youthful offenders and gives grants to towns to tackle gun violence. The bill would have also banned people under 21 from buying semiautomatic firearms, that is until sponsors of the bill removed that section Tuesday morning. They say the Bruen Supreme Court decision last summer could spur lawsuits that would slow down the bill. Sen. Dick Sears says the Supreme Court decision is putting many firearm reforms in state Legislature in legal flux. “For example, it asks us to look back at tradition and when you look back at tradition in Vermont, people in Vermont were required to be in a militia at age 16 as far back as the 1700s. Lawmakers are continuing with S.4 but they say the idea of banning semiautomatic guns for people under 21 may come in another bill.