By a vote of 10 to three, the council instructed the city's charter change committee to draft language barring the possession of such guns and ammunition in Burlington and calling for their "immediate seizure by the police."
The vote was merely a first step in a long process that would require yet another vote by the council, public hearings, a referendum and, ultimately, a vote in the legislature to change the city's charter. Nevertheless, to the nearly 100 Vermonters who showed up to the meeting — nearly all men and many wearing camouflage or blaze orange — the proposal was clearly received as an affront to their right to bear arms.
"There's no excuse why we have this ordinance here other than to politicize something that's a knee-jerk reaction," said Burlington resident Michael McGarghan, one of 25 members of the public who spoke out against the proposal during the meeting. "I'm really disgusted that I had to come here tonight and take time out to talk about this."