And there is some dispute about whether the legendary "Green Mountain Boys" of American Revolution fame were even supporters of the colonial cause against the British. The "Boys" were originally formed as a quasi-independent militia in the region between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut back in the 1750s -- primarily to enforce the legitimacy of New Hampshire land titles against competing claims by title holders from New York.
For all of its radical leftism, the state still has a serious libertarian streak that is honestly quite refreshing in the Northeast. There are probably more gun owners per capita in Vermont than almost anywhere else in the U.S., and the pro-gun track record of that crazed leftist himself (Howard Dean) never got much attention during his short-lived presidential campaign in 2004.
What may be interesting is how Vermonters will react if Hillary Clinton is elected President next year with a Congress with a larger Democratic majority and she pursues an essentially socialist European agenda combined with corporate welfare of the type her husband dealt in. There is something of a left-libertarian streak among the transplants that may be as unhappy with her policies as economic and limited government conservatives were with Bush's so-called compassionate (big government) conservatism.
Interesting history lesson. I actually lived there for 5 years and I highly doubt the highest gun ownership per capita. The native Vermonters (dairy farmers and the such) are good people and this may be true among them. The trust fund baby hippies have squeezed out the natives, and it certainly isn’t true with for them. It doesn’t take many people, because the population of the entire state was around 700k last time I checked (several years back). It is a beautiful state and people are very friendly. Nice place to visit!