This spring, for the first time ever, there were desperate people, living up behind the house, in a very public park like space, which borders hiking trails. They were there for several weeks, and even though I felt somewhat invaded, I did not report them to the police. I found the situation to be unsettling, but not threatening. It was clear that the couple was merely down on their luck, and trying to create function and stability in their lives.
It also made me feel sad and torn, that our economic climate has made even small towns, in the middle of nowhere, subject to providing housing for what I refer to as "the transient folk".
When I lived further south, this same phenomenon would transpire in the summer (the river folk population would swell enormously), but it wasn't for over twenty years before the nearby woods also became a regular haunt. When I left that area, there were at least two families, that I know of, residing permanently in tents and lean-tos, all around the town. They would pick up and move every few weeks. Some of them had very small children, babies, even. It saddened me greatly, to be witness to it. This was a gradual, and albeit hidden process;I was likely only one of a few who even noticed the expansion. I was sad to leave there, but not for this reason. Truthfully, the burgeoning homeless population became increasingly violent and unpredictable, with much untreated mental-illness in the mix. It got so even if you wanted to help, it was dangerous and unnerving to brush up against the population at times.
Desperadoes, are well, desperate.
They will make decisions that they would never have made before they were desperate, just due to changing circumstance. Many of them, once arriving in our mostly liberal state, began packing firearms (who knows how, or where, they got them?). The combination of no gun laws, and mental illness + no home, can be, well, dangerous. Dangerous and desperate. I learned this first hand, as a child, and not really wanting to live around it, I wasn't too sad to move away from this aspect of the old town. For awhile, the new town remained geographically remote enough, not to entice this urban overflow.
I guess, truthfully, I should have realized, that along with the economic collapse, there is literally no place remote enough, for people wanting to survive, to turn their noses up at resources; especially if they seem free or in excess.
I decided that I was spooked enough after seeing these folks living on the hillside, to eventually purchase a shotgun, for home protection. Just in case the desperadoes, well, get really desperate. They could get desperate enough to start raiding the countryside. Maybe not tomorrow. Or next week. Or even next year. But, along with several friends, I believe it will come. It's the nature of revolution. Anyone who eats regularly, during a revolution, is suspect. That would be us. We will need to protect ourselves.
So...........back to the point of this blog..........I began the process of researching my rights and obligations. Just in case, you know, the desperados should someday show up at my door, and insist I feed them, or something else, not as nice.
Turns out Vermont has NO laws concerning personal gun control. I only had two specific questions for someone, indeed, anyone, at the state level.
My two questions (which I have not yet, despite numerous hours of research, gotten an answer for):
1) Is there any kind of law for carrying a concealed weapon? CAN i obtain a Concealed Weapon Permit, for my handgun, or should I just walk around with it, on my ankle,hip,shoulder/back, permit-less?
2) Can you please tell me what the law says I should do?
3) What is the obligation to retreat , in Vermont? Specifically, is there some sort of obligation to retreat, if someone is invading my home, intent on stealing my things, either to hock, or to eat? I mean, should I jump out my 14 foot high window, and hop in my car, to avoid them, or do I shoot them, or feed them, or both? Feed them, then shoot them, especially if they are greedy, and want desert?
4) If I shoot them, what happens? Am I protected by State Statute as blameless?
Well, okay, yea, that's 4 questions, that's true.
The ONLY one I have an answer to, is question #1.
Nope, there's no permit process in our lovely liberal state. Carry it concealed, Carry it out in the open. Nobody cares. Well, alright then. Can do. Moving onwards and upwards.
My next questions:
I first started at the Attorney Generals webpage. There's a pretty general page there, stating that you can't bring a gun into a public, state, or federal building. Common Sense right? On account of, you know, they have those signs and now, scanners. And of course, no schools, shopping centers, or library's, etc. Although, without needing a permit, and without having to go through a scanner, who would know whose breaking the law on this one? It's gotta make ya' wonder. It certainly did, me. :(
They couldn't (or wouldn't) answer my very specific question. They referred me to the sheriff's office, who couldn't (or wouldn't) answer my questions, either. They referred me to the ATF; because they felt it was a federal issue, due to the fact that Vermont has so few gun laws (huh?). So............if I shot someone who had invaded my home, the ATF would come in and do what, exactly?
Well, now I was really dumfounded, and figuring someone had to know something, I found a local ATF branch number in Burlington, and got a call back, today. The guy I spoke with (a former state police officer in MA.) and I, had a very nice conversation, which ended with his recommendation that I call the Attorney Generals Office. Which I did, and since there are so few gun laws in Vermont, their only recommendation, since I was researching anyway, was to look at the justifiable homicide statute. WHOA. Well, we had quite a few laughs about that one, I can tell ya' so.
Their final recommendation was to contact an actual attorney at the Addison States Attorney's office. Oh, yea. I should have done that, in the beginning. Stoopid me.
Except, well, they won't talk to you, as they work for the state and if you need this kind of specific information, their recommendation is to contact a private attorney, pay for it, and get your answers there. Because, you know, it's all situational. As a citizen of this state, there is NOWHERE and I mean NOWHERE, to look up cases where particular incidences of home protection were NOT prosecuted by the States Attorney's office. There's too much gray in both the law, and the minds of the bureaucrats, who enforce it. It's entirely situational, don't you know?
Which, of course, ended with me right back to the beginning.
I don't know about you, but my head is spinning. And I still don't know the best way to deal with that potential intruder.
Do I stay and shoot? Run and shoot?
Or maybe, if this should happen, I should just say: "Hey, take anything you want, but please don't make me shoot you. It's far too complicated a thing, from you know, a legal standpoint!".
Justifiable Homicide aside, what's a person to do? I guess if I want to commit 300 bucks towards the shotgun, I should also commit another 200 bucks to the private attorney, to make sure, you know, that the potential intruder doesn't die with my home-made chocolate, on their lips, or in their belly. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?
