MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont House gave final approval to a package of gun ownership restrictions Tuesday night while opponents clad in orange hunting vests packed the Statehouse.

Lawmakers voted 89-54 to pass legislation that would raise the legal age for gun purchases, expand background checks for private gun sales and ban high-capacity magazines and rapid-fire devices known as bump stocks. The vote fell primarily along party lines.

Gun control opponents argued that the measure was unconstitutional and would not protect schoolchildren.

The demonstration came three days after an estimated 2,500 students and supporters held a rally outside the Statehouse in support of gun safety.

Speaking at a Statehouse news conference, Republican Gov. Phil Scott said he understood that he has disappointed many supporters by backing gun restrictions but realized he had an obligation after a teenager was arrested last month for plotting to shoot up the Fair Haven Union High School.

“It’s a tremendous responsibility as governor to make sure that you protect the citizens of the state so this isn’t an easy decision for me to make, but I have to look at it broadly and ask myself, … are we doing everything we can to protect our kids, and the answer for me at that point in time was no,” Scott said.

An opponents, Hardwick police Chief Aaron Cochran, went to the Statehouse on Tuesday, representing the group Vermont Law Enforcement Against Gun Control.

“Our focus as law enforcement is on school safety,” he said. “And unfortunately a lot of effort has been taken away from school safety and gone into this gun control debate.”

The measure, which was given preliminary approval on Friday, now has to be reconciled with a version that was first passed by the Senate.

Separately, Vermont lawmakers this week are expected to give final approval to legislation that would make it easier to take guns from suicidal people and perpetrators of domestic violence.

While nationwide the push for gun ownership restrictions was given a boost by the shooting last month at a Parkland, Florida, high school that killed 17, the Vermont debate was spurred by a near-miss in Fair Haven, in which a friend of the teenager accused of plotting a shooting told police about it and he was arrested.

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