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.

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While the committee abandoned that provision (UBC) weeks ago, it continued to debate two other components of S.31: a ban on certain convicted criminals possessing firearms and new federal reporting requirements. As the committee neared a deadline to take action Friday afternoon, it opted to include both measures in a new committee-authored bill.

That was enough for gun-control activists to celebrate.

"This is a historic victory, because this is a gun violence prevention bill that's going forward despite the opposition of the gun lobby," Gun Sense Vermont cofounder Ann Braden said after the vote. "This issue has been untouchable for years and now it's on the table."

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