MONTPELIER, Vt. -
In room 10 of Vermont's statehouse lawmakers looked, held and asked questions Friday about guns.
"This one? I think this one will hold 8," said Capital Police Chief Les Dimick.
Dimick brought in a number of weapons, from assault rifles to shotguns.
The reason, give legislators a firsthand experience with the weapons because some want to put more restrictions on ownership.
"There are many people who don't own fire arms, haven't touched firearms," said State Rep. Linda Wait-Simpson.
Normally guns aren't allowed inside the statehouse, and there's signage reminding you of that as you enter the building, so in order for Friday's event to happen, leaders had to get permission.
Waite-Simpson introduced legislation this week that would require potential gun buyers to go through a background check, and limit the amount of bullets you could have in a cartridge to ten.
But she's received some backlash.
"These are just the phone calls I've received in the last 2 days," said Waite-Simpson.
That kind of response Waite-Simpson says might be why few legislators visited the exhibit.
We were there an hour and saw fewer than a dozen lawmakers.
Even though it might be a losing battle, some lawmakers who've signed on say it's an important subject that needs to be addressed.
"Is the right to bear arms for defense the only right with virtually no limit," said Adam Greshin.
"Firearm regulations from one state to another are like Swiss cheese and Vermont happens to be one of the holes," said State Rep. Michael Yantachka.
This isn't the first piece of gun legislation to be introduced this year.
Last month, State Senator Philip Baruth took restrictions a step further by banning assault weapons.
But less than a week after introducing it, Baruth dropped the bill.
