Discharge of Firearms within the City Limits
Our Facebook post on November 8, 2017, erroneously stated that 1) hunting is prohibited in Burlington and 2) that firearms are prohibited in City parks.
To clarify the first point – Hunting is not regulated by the City, but the DISCHARGE OF FIREARMS WITHIN CITY LIMITS IS PROHIBITED. Hunting specifically is governed by state, not local law.
To the second point – Burlington does have an ordinance on the books, BCO 22-12, passed in 1962, that bars the carrying of firearms in City parks, but that ordinance has since been superseded by the Vermont Sportsmen’s Bill of Rights, 24 V.S.A. §2295. To avoid confusion in the future, steps are being taken to remove that language from the ordinance.
In response to questions concerning duck hunting in Lake Champlain off of Burlington’s shore – the City’s charter (adopted by the Vermont state legislature) has the City’s western boundary running from the westernmost point of Appletree Point to, in a straight line, the boundary line between Burlington and South Burlington at the shore of Lake Champlain. The area of Lake Champlain between those two points is therefore within the city limits of Burlington. The City prohibits the discharge of firearms within that area. The discharge of firearms IS allowed in waters North of the westernmost point of Appletree Point to the Colchester town line, where the prohibition on firearm discharges does not apply, provided that hunters are beyond the low water mark that sets the City boundary.
Please see the updated map for visual clarification.
