BURLINGTON — A city councilor in Vermont’s largest city is responding to the recent school massacre in Connecticut by proposing a municipal ban on assault weapons with high-capacity ammunition clips.

Burlington City Councilor Norman Blais (“Blay”), a Democrat, is getting a mixed reaction from his fellow Council members. Two of them are urging that the city focus on better mental health counseling.

Blais is targeting the types of guns that Connecticut authorities say Adam Lanza used to kill 20 children and six staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn, on Dec.14. Lanza also killed his mother and himself.

Vermont law bars municipalities from adopting the sort of ordinance Blais is seeking, so the change would require action both in the city and the state Legislature.