The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Friday to bar certain convicted criminals from possessing firearms and to report the names of some mentally ill people to a federal database. 

Friday's vote set up an exceedingly rare floor debate next week over the supposed third rail of Vermont politics: the state's relatively permissive gun laws. 

But even as the committee prepared to sign off on the bill early Friday afternoon, its members appeared focused on what they weren't approving: namely, universal criminal background checks.

"S.31 is not being acted on in this committee," its chair, Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington), said. "S.31 is dead — I guess that's the proper term — and will not be acted on this year or next year by this committee."

Vermonters used words — and colors — Tuesday night to fight, politely, over guns.

Hundreds streamed into the Statehouse for a hearing held by two Senate committees, filling the House chamber and overflowing into nearby rooms to watch it remotely.

Wearing green shirts and buttons were those who backed a controversial bill establishing new restrictions on guns sold privately to felons and those who are mentally unfit. In blaze orange shirts, vests, hats and stickers were those opposed to any new gun laws in Vermont.

Orange far outnumbered green, but both sides expressed equal passion.

Updated at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday to detail a failed bill that was introduced in the Vermont legislature to improve reporting.

Vermont continues to be among the least active states in the country in sending records of mentally ill people to the national firearms background check system.

Federal records show Vermont is one of nine states that have submitted fewer than 100 records of mental illness to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which licensed gun sellers must consult before closing a sale, according to a recently released report from the gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety. 

Burlington voters today overwhelmingly approved three ballot measures designed to tighten control of residents' access to firearms, setting up a potentially tricky decision for Gov. Peter Shumlin and state lawmakers in coming weeks.

Residents voted 5,194-2,517 to ban firearms in businesses with liquor licenses; 5,579-2,066 to allow police to seize firearms after responding to domestic abuse incidents; and 4,351-2,971 to require gun owners to store firearms safely. 

All three changes to the city's charter will now be forwarded to the Statehouse — legislators must approve all charter changes. Shumlin, who has resisted gun-control efforts in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting, has refused to say whether he will sign the changes into law, and many legislators have been wary of wading into the gun-control debate.

The most interesting test for Burlington's three gun-related charter change proposals could come well after voters have their say next Tuesday.

That's because, like any change to the city's charter, all three measures would require affirmative votes by the legislature and the signature of Gov. Peter Shumlin. And while Vermont lawmakers have studiously avoided any debate of gun-related matters since a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school 14 months ago, Shumlin has made perfectly clear that he opposes new gun regulations of any kind.

So what would happen if Burlingtonians approve the measures, which would ban guns from bars, require them to be locked when stored and allow the police to confiscate them from those suspected of domestic abuse?

Updated March 2 to correct an earlier error in the final paragraph.

When residents in Ward 7 head to the voting booths next Tuesday, they will choose between two political fledglings — Democrat Bianka Legrand and Republican Tom Treat — to fill their open city council seat.

Treat, 47, has lived in Ward 7 for 17 years, along with his wife and three children. An engineer at Koffee Cup Bakery, Treat said he’s followed national politics more closely than local politics, but he’s “kept on ear to the ground” on issues like school spending and the city’s pension system. Treat adds that his candidacy offers a chance for voters to keep at least some GOP representation on a council dominated by Democrats and Progressives. 

The Democrats’ hopes rest with Legrand, who has lived off and on in Ward 7 since moving to Burlington in 1997. She and her family came to the city as refugees, fleeing the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Legrand didn’t speak English when she arrived in Vermont as a 17-year-old. Now 33, she’s fluent, and she holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of Vermont and a master's in organizational leadership from Norwich University. 

It was only a drill. Five Vermont state troopers were moving through Burlington Town Center on Thursday evening, when suddenly, they came under fire. Four journalists had infiltrated the deserted mall and wouldn't stop shooting at them. 

Click. Click. Click. 

Undettered by the paparazzi's cameras, the troopers went on with their demonstration, proceeding from the mall's Bank Street entrance in a diamond formation, making their way down to the J. Crew store with guns drawn, turning around and exiting the way they came.  

A new issue of Seven Days hits the newsstands today. Here's what you'll find inside:

• This week's cover story: Grey is the New Orange. Vermont's elderly prison population is a rapidly growing group, straining the state's correctional facilities.
• New details have been revealed in the case of the mentally ill man who was fatally shot by Burlington police last year. Documents say the cops knew they were dealing with a "mental-health issue" but didn't know  Brunette's name before he was shot to death. 
• A ski area sans chairlifts? Backcountry skiers are organizing to encourage more institutional support for off-piste winter sports.
• Current weather is a prime reason to fire up the woodstove — but are wood heaters polluting Vermont's air?
• In Fair Game: Vermont Public Television faces a staff revolt and the potential loss of federal funds due to allegations against its board. Plus, T.J. Donovan opts out of a potential primary rematch with Attorney General Bill Sorrell, and state Sen. Peter Galbraith raises a ruckus over health care funding.

Get all these stories and more in print, online or on the app.

Cover photo by Tom McNeill

Barbara Brunette, the wife of a man fatally shot by police in November, implored the Burlington City Council Monday night to invest resources into taking better care of the mentally ill.

A police officer shot Wayne Brunette on Nov. 6 after receiving a call from his parents who said their son was acting irrationally. Police say that Brunette, a 49-year-old who struggled with schizophrenia, threatened two officers with a shovel before he was shot. 

 The Vermont State Police and the Vermont Attorney General’s Office have both cleared the two officers involved of any criminal wrongdoing.

The city council meeting was part eulogy and part plea for more resources.

“My husband was a very caring, poetic, loving, romantic man. He was a fantastic father,” Brunette, pictured above, told the council.  “Policies have to be changed.”

Updated at 2:59 p.m.

Two Burlington police officers who were placed on administrative leave following the fatal shooting of a shovel-wielding man earlier this month are returning to duty tomorrow, Burlington Police Chief Michael Schirling said, as preliminary investigations have showed they did not violate any rules or laws.

While the Vermont State Police and the Burlington Police Department are still reviewing the shooting death of Wayne Brunette in the New North End on November 6, early indications are that Cpl. Ethan Thibault and Cpl. Brent Navari acted appropriately, Schirling said. 

'They don't see any red flags," the chief said in an interview.

The officers are at a training today and will return to regular duty tomorrow, Schirling said.

Brunette was shot four times, the Vermont State Police announced this afternoon, and died of wounds to his torso.  

Thibault fired all four shots, Vermont State Police said. The rounds recovered from Brunette, 49, who had a history of mental illness, will be sent to the Vermont Forensic Lab for ballistic analysis.

Navari did not fire.

The Vermont Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Brunette’s death a homicide — a medical definition, not a legal one. The formal autopsy report will be incorporated into the ongoing Vermont State Police investigation, which will be submitted to Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell and Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan for review.