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I currently live in Connecticut and have several pistol permits (CT, FL, NH, ME). I recently took a weekend trip up to Bennington, VT with my two brothers to just have a relaxing weekend and do a little hiking, sightseeing, etc. Since Vermont doesn't require any permit to carry a handgun, so one of my brothers and I decided to take our guns along. From my understanding, Vermont appeared to be pretty gun friendly from everything I’ve seen online. The first night we were there we both decided to open carry while out and had no issues. The problem came later that evening back at the motel. Before going to bed we decided to remove the magazines and keep the guns unload. Not necessary, but we figured it was a good idea to keep them unloaded while sleeping. Not like it would take very long to load them if we had an issue during the night. The guns were just placed on the table in plain sight.
We had a medical issue around 3 am that morning with my older brother. He is diabetic and his blood sugar got too low and he had a seizure in the motel bathroom. Since we were traveling and didn’t have the necessary shot to get his blood sugar back up, it was necessary to call 911 and get him some medical help. Under normal circumstances I probably would have put the guns away to not cause any alarm, but as you can imagine I just didn’t even think about this at the time. The first to arrive to our room were two officers who said the paramedics should arrive shortly. I was assisting my brother on the bathroom floor for several minutes while the officers ask some basic questions (Where you from?, etc.). Because we were on the opposite end of the room and there were several bags also on the table, I don’t believe the guns were visible from where everyone was standing. One officer then said to my brother if it was ok if he had a look around the room. My brother then replied that he would mind and didn’t think it was necessary. The officer ignored his request and started looking around. Since they were right on the table it didn’t take long for him to see the guns. The officer then asked my brother why we had guns. My brother then said he did not feel comfortable answering any more questions. As you can imagine, the officers are now getting pretty upset. He asks one more time why we have guns in the room. Again, my brother says he will not answer any more questions. At this time one of the officer handcuffs my brother and the other officer ask me to get out of the bathroom and put my hands on wall. I was also searched and handcuffs. During this time my other brother is still unresponsive and lying on the bathroom floor, the paramedics have still not arrived. I can’t determine how they thought we were a threat. We were both assisting my brother in the bathroom and there were two unloaded firearms on the other side of the bedroom? Nonetheless, they separate both of us and start the usual questioning. During this time, they are running our information and checking the serial numbers on the guns. They ignore our request to not be searched and start going through all of our bags. I start to answer some basic questions about where I work, how long I've worked there, but after a few questions I realize this has nothing to do with anything and realized no matter what I said, it wasn't going to help. From this point forward I decide to exercise my right to not answer any questions. It’s very obvious they are getting upset that we wont answer why we have guns or why we are in Vermont. I'm sure it would have been easier to just answer their questions, not like we were doing anything wrong, but I know everything is going to come back fine, why bother? Its pretty clear they are taking their time after all our stuff comes back clean. I continue to ask why we are being detained. They keep stating it is necessary for the safety of the paramedics. Still can’t figure out how we are a threat to them? In total we were in handcuffs for about 45-50 minutes until the paramedics left. At that time one officer said that things would have gone a lot different if we had just answered his questions. I honestly believe that the reason we were detained was because we exercised our 5th amendment rights to not answer any of his questions.
I'm sure I could have handled the situation better. I probably only answered about 5% of their questions after getting handcuffed. Looking back I really shouldn't have said anything.
I'd like to hear anyone’s suggestion. Should we have just been honest upfront? I could have easily just said we have guns for self defense. I just believe that I shouldn’t have to explain to anyone why I own a gun. I don’t think things would have gone differently even if we did cooperate. I believe these guys had the mentality that nobody but cops should have guns. One of the officers kept telling me that if we were in New York we would have been in serious trouble. Not sure how that was relevant at all, we are in Vermont! Based on the fact he kept asking questions about CT law and how he was familiar with NY laws, I’m pretty sure he was from New York. It may explain his attitude about guns.
It seems weird to me that we were even detained. Are they going to detain everyone and run their information every time they see someone with a gun? Looks like they would be wasting a lot of time by stopping everyone they see caring a gun, or every time they see a gun in the house even though they are there for completely different reasons.
Please let me know your suggestions and what you would have done differently.
Thanks,
Chris
I currently live in Connecticut and have several pistol permits (CT, FL, NH, ME). I recently took a weekend trip up to Bennington, VT with my two brothers to just have a relaxing weekend and do a little hiking, sightseeing, etc. Since Vermont doesn't require any permit to carry a handgun, so one of my brothers and I decided to take our guns along. From my understanding, Vermont appeared to be pretty gun friendly from everything I’ve seen online. The first night we were there we both decided to open carry while out and had no issues. The problem came later that evening back at the motel. Before going to bed we decided to remove the magazines and keep the guns unload. Not necessary, but we figured it was a good idea to keep them unloaded while sleeping. Not like it would take very long to load them if we had an issue during the night. The guns were just placed on the table in plain sight.
We had a medical issue around 3 am that morning with my older brother. He is diabetic and his blood sugar got too low and he had a seizure in the motel bathroom. Since we were traveling and didn’t have the necessary shot to get his blood sugar back up, it was necessary to call 911 and get him some medical help. Under normal circumstances I probably would have put the guns away to not cause any alarm, but as you can imagine I just didn’t even think about this at the time. The first to arrive to our room were two officers who said the paramedics should arrive shortly. I was assisting my brother on the bathroom floor for several minutes while the officers ask some basic questions (Where you from?, etc.). Because we were on the opposite end of the room and there were several bags also on the table, I don’t believe the guns were visible from where everyone was standing. One officer then said to my brother if it was ok if he had a look around the room. My brother then replied that he would mind and didn’t think it was necessary. The officer ignored his request and started looking around. Since they were right on the table it didn’t take long for him to see the guns. The officer then asked my brother why we had guns. My brother then said he did not feel comfortable answering any more questions. As you can imagine, the officers are now getting pretty upset. He asks one more time why we have guns in the room. Again, my brother says he will not answer any more questions. At this time one of the officer handcuffs my brother and the other officer ask me to get out of the bathroom and put my hands on wall. I was also searched and handcuffs. During this time my other brother is still unresponsive and lying on the bathroom floor, the paramedics have still not arrived. I can’t determine how they thought we were a threat. We were both assisting my brother in the bathroom and there were two unloaded firearms on the other side of the bedroom? Nonetheless, they separate both of us and start the usual questioning. During this time, they are running our information and checking the serial numbers on the guns. They ignore our request to not be searched and start going through all of our bags. I start to answer some basic questions about where I work, how long I've worked there, but after a few questions I realize this has nothing to do with anything and realized no matter what I said, it wasn't going to help. From this point forward I decide to exercise my right to not answer any questions. It’s very obvious they are getting upset that we wont answer why we have guns or why we are in Vermont. I'm sure it would have been easier to just answer their questions, not like we were doing anything wrong, but I know everything is going to come back fine, why bother? Its pretty clear they are taking their time after all our stuff comes back clean. I continue to ask why we are being detained. They keep stating it is necessary for the safety of the paramedics. Still can’t figure out how we are a threat to them? In total we were in handcuffs for about 45-50 minutes until the paramedics left. At that time one officer said that things would have gone a lot different if we had just answered his questions. I honestly believe that the reason we were detained was because we exercised our 5th amendment rights to not answer any of his questions.
I'm sure I could have handled the situation better. I probably only answered about 5% of their questions after getting handcuffed. Looking back I really shouldn't have said anything.
I'd like to hear anyone’s suggestion. Should we have just been honest upfront? I could have easily just said we have guns for self defense. I just believe that I shouldn’t have to explain to anyone why I own a gun. I don’t think things would have gone differently even if we did cooperate. I believe these guys had the mentality that nobody but cops should have guns. One of the officers kept telling me that if we were in New York we would have been in serious trouble. Not sure how that was relevant at all, we are in Vermont! Based on the fact he kept asking questions about CT law and how he was familiar with NY laws, I’m pretty sure he was from New York. It may explain his attitude about guns.
It seems weird to me that we were even detained. Are they going to detain everyone and run their information every time they see someone with a gun? Looks like they would be wasting a lot of time by stopping everyone they see caring a gun, or every time they see a gun in the house even though they are there for completely different reasons.
Please let me know your suggestions and what you would have done differently.
Thanks,
Chris