Re: Is is OK for tenants to store weapons in the house

Re: Is is OK for tenants to store weapons in the house by Joseph Crawford (Vermont) on January 6, 2016 @15:58

I recently had this issue with my landlord. He found out I had guns when he saw me coming from my car to my apartment with my hunting rifle after sighting it in for deer season. He was blown away and said you cannot have that here. I said are you sure, this is Vermont. He said he was positive. He was correct for the time being a property owner can restrict firearms but the property must be "private property". As for the searching on tenants apartments unless he gets you to agree to an on the spot inspection he cannot do anything legally. He actually has gotten a buddy of mine to allow him any time of the day to call him and immediately let him into the apartment to validate that his shotgun is in one room in a locked case while the ammo is in another room in a locked case. If that were me I would have told him to bugger off. He has tried to (and been successful) at sneaking it into leases.

When I was switching to a larger apartment I had to sign a new lease and noticed he tried to sneak that clause in there.. I told him that I would need a 2 days because I needed to find out if that was legal to do or not. He agreed and needless to say even though he had my deposit he let another party have the apartment. Eventually he got me into another apartment but it was months later when one became available.

The only reason this will fly is because property rights are right there with firearm rights... Until it's tried in supreme court for the state no decision has been made either way.

I know all landlords are worried about liability. Mine included as he stated he would get sued if I shot or killed an intruder or if I had an accidental discharge where a bullet went through a wall striking a neighbor. Which I understand. I even suggested I would get firearm insurance and he said well thats great but when that money is gone they will come to me. I then even suggested I get my FFL license would he hold me to a higher standard. He never replied but I also found out that you cannot get an FFL unless you own the location property :)

Living in the grand laid back state of Vermont I will soon be having to find a new rental property or try to get into my own home by the time my lease terminates.

Also please be careful on the advice you are giving above. I read the same article which stated that California, Minnesota and Virginia all prohibit a landlord from restricting. I have not found that to be true as I cannot find a CA statute proving so, neither have attorneys that have researched the topic.

I have been doing a lot of research on this over the last few months and here is the states I have found which currently prohibit (probably not a full list).

Minnesota 
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=624.714

Ohio 
https://legiscan.com/OH/bill/HB147/2015

Virginia
http://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/2006/toc5500000/55-248.9.html

I firmly feel all states should prohibit this but that all states should also relieve the landlords of any responsibility stemming from incidents that do occur. I also believe that insurance should be a requirement in a rental property.

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