Vermont?

[WobblyPossum]

While Vermont (and many other places) has experienced recent increases in crime, I would respectfully suggest that anyone who finds the current crime rates in Vermont (much, much, much lower than in Kansas or Texas) to be unbearable lacks perspective.

I’ll add that some towns are definitely better than others, and it’s worth researching. If you can afford to live in or near Stowe, maybe do that instead of Barre, Charlotte over Burlington, etc. The prices can be quite shocking (what prices aren’t these days?). In some municipalities, anti-police and pro-crime policies have caused significant attrition among law enforcement. You don’t want to be the sucker paying thousands in local taxes in exchange for a 5-hour police response. Then again, if your experience is like that of almost every single Vermonter, year after year, you’re not going to need to call the police at all. It really is a quiet, peaceful place. Maybe not compared to some Swiss cantons or Finnish provinces, but compared to just about anywhere else flying Old Glory.

Also true. If you aren’t involved in the drug trade or in a violent romantic relationship, your odds of being murdered in Vermont are practically zero.

[TGS]

Maybe not compared to some Swiss cantons or Finnish provinces, but compared to just about anywhere else flying Old Glory.

This resonated with me because I went to college in Vermont, and one of my German instructors was a Swiss immigrant. When I asked him why he moved to Vermont, he said it was the closest thing (cultural and lifestyle) he could find to Switzerland.

Vermont is a great place to live. Of note, many here would likely be unaware that Vermont is the only direct democracy in America. Every year, each town will have a town hall meeting where all proposed municipal codes and policies are voted on by each towns person. The smaller towns can basically shut down for this purpose, and people will usually be excused from work. Not sure what the bigger places like B-town are like, but civic engagement is on a scale not really available anywhere else in the US.

If you're looking for Midwest or southern right ring christian-conservative flavors, Vermont will be a bad lifestyle fit. If you stay outside of B-town, it's a pretty fantastic place to live. The depolicing and surges in crime are not unique to Vermont, and are present pretty much everywhere in the US...so that's kind of a wash.

[Tensaw]

FWIW: https://thefederalist.com/2023/01/24...itizen-voting/

[Stephanie B]

I'd like to hear those reasons. I'm looking at weather, crime, and of course gun laws.

I've lived in the "banana belt" in VT and have family in NH.

Seasons were Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, More Winter and Mud. Depending where your home is, expect to deal with dirt roads. Depending on how aggressive your local road department is, may want to ensure that you do some serious rustproofing of your vehicles. If you can afford them, studded snow tires are da bomb.

If you are buying a home, think hard about how it's heated. A lot of homes are heated with oil and oil can get pricey, because it has to get trucked up from the coast. If you're out in the boonies, power outages are a thing.

On gun laws, Vermont has permitless carry and has had it basically forever. The downside is that in NH, one can get a carry permit that has some reciprocity. Vermont seems to be tightening down on those evil high-cap guns.

[JohnO]

I've been to Vermont many times to ski and weekend getaways. My Vermont knowledge mostly comes from friends who own homes there or my next door neighbor who grew up in Stamford, VT.

One thing I noticed and friends verified this; there are no zoning laws in rural Vermont. It's not uncommon to see intermixed eyesores and palatial residences.

My friends say there are 2 Vermonts. The salt of the earth Vermonters who are very conservative and the wacko liberal Vermonters in the cities.

In a conversation with a Vermont state trooper in regards to "messing" with an AR15, the trooper said "It's your gun we don't care what you do with it". Obviously not legal advice but the story was told to me as an example of the prevailing mindset.

Vermonters who want/need normal capacity magazines just go get them in NH.

[1slow]

Only problems I see are you are surrounded by socialist shitholes to some degree. This affects your CCW traveling.

[HeavyDuty]

Only problems I see are you are surrounded by socialist shitholes to some degree. This affects your CCW traveling.

To the south and west, yes - not the east. But that was the same issue when I was in NH, I was landlocked. Moving in and out with evil guns was mildly stressful.

[HCM]

https://vtdigger.org/2023/02/07/verm...n-the-country/

Vermont’s rates of homelessness are (almost) the worst in the country

TThe state’s housing crisis is top of the agenda in Montpelier and self-evident to most renters, employers and first-time homebuyers — to say nothing of the nearly 3,000 Vermonters currently sheltering in motels thanks to pandemic-era emergency housing rules.

But a figure tucked inside a federal government report and first reported by the Guardian last week still stunned housing and homelessness advocates.

Vermont has the second-highest per-capita rate of homelessness in the country, behind only California. That’s according to the latest figures, published in December, from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Based on a nationwide tally taken last January, the federal government estimates that 43.1 out of every 10,000 Vermonters are unhoused.

[HCM]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/vermont-g...tures-property

Vermont gun range owner ordered to dismantle all illegal structures on property
Owner Daniel Banyai of Pawlet, VT, has until June 23 to comply

In response to Slate Ridge, Vermont State Sen. Philip Baruth, a Democrat and Progressive from Burlington, introduced a bill in the Legislature earlier this year to ban paramilitary training centers in the state. After a Thursday hearing on the proposal at the Statehouse in Montpelier, Baruth said he introduced the bill after hearing officials say there was nothing they could do about Slate Ridge because it didn't violate any state laws.

"That can’t stand," Baruth said.

[MountainRaven]

To the south and west, yes - not the east. But that was the same issue when I was in NH, I was landlocked. Moving in and out with evil guns was mildly stressful.

South: Massachusetts
West: New York
East: Maine
North: Canada

Sounds like living on an island, except the mainlanders can just drive over, while you - with your firearms - pretty much have to fly out (and hopefully not get diverted anywhere nearby that is not on your island). Or fill up at the border and hope you can make it in one tank to PA.