Burlington charter amendment would bar firearms inside alcohol‑serving licensed premises

Burlington voters approved a charter amendment that would bar the knowing possession of firearms inside premises licensed to serve alcohol, and the state House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on May 14 heard legal and public‑safety testimony about whether the change is constitutional and how it would operate in practice.

The issue matters because the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen requires courts to assess whether a firearms restriction is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation. "What the city of Burlington has proposed is another location," said Eric Fitzpatrick, legislative counsel with the Office of Legislative Council, who walked the committee through the Bruen framework and recent appellate authority.

Fitzpatrick told the committee the measure before them is a location restriction narrowly targeted to licensed premises and that recent federal appellate decisions support that kind of restriction. "The Second Circuit squarely…