Which States are the most gun friendly? SOUND OFF

[scriverdog]

So, If you were going to relocate to another state and your first priority was a state that had reasonable (read "less restrictive") concealed carry laws, which states would be the best options?

this is not a rhetorical question, I am considering moving and I'd like to narrow down to those states where the rights of gun ownership prevail.

yes, I know I could research this at packing.org but I figured it would be interesting to hear of the experiences of those who actually live in those locales.

[MyGunsJammed]

Vermont, Alaska, Florida, Texas, pretty much all the southern belt states....

PA, DE, NC, OH etc.....

I myself am planning to move to Texas in a couple years....

[Tamara]

Vermont and Alaska head the list, naturally. Arizona has good laws, as do most all western and southeastern states. Texas has decent gun laws, but not as good as one might suspect at first glance; stricter in some ways than TN or GA. Surprisingly, Indiana has some of the best in the country outside of AK or VT, which was a big part of my decision to relocate; Indiana's gun laws are actually quite a bit more liberal than those of Georgia or Tennessee on almost everything, especially if you have a toter's permit, which requires $25 and a pulse.

The southeastern state to avoid would be NC which is, from a lot of standpoints, the "California of the South". Also, when I say "western states", I obviously mean NV, UT, ID, MT, et cetera, as America stops just west of Reno...

[rwilson452]

PA is shall issue with very few places its illegal to carry. Cost of a LTCF varies by county, generally the further you get from Philadelphia the cheaper it gets. My county is $25. No training requirement. We have state preemption altho they do require you to have a LTCF in Philly for either open or concealed carry. The rest of the state you don't need a LTCF to open carry. However, packing in your car is considered concealed. There was some confusion whether your LTCF was good while hunting, that was fixed.

LTCF = License to Carry Firearms. No FOID cards or Mag limits. No AWB. If you pay the bat boys their tax you can pack a SBR should you so choose. Yes even a sawed off shotgun. I'll stick with my XD45.

[SamHouston]

As Davy Crockett said "To hell with you, I'm going to Texas".

Come on down, not only are our gun laws good but our economy in DFW is booming. Houses are the most affordable of the major cities and our winters are great. Summers are a little tough but that's why god made air conditioning & swimming pools.

Great State, good hunting & plenty of gun ranges.

[KMO]

Arizona is a good state for gun laws (or lack thereof). We also have a "Castle Doctrine" law in effect here. Our neighbor to the west, Kallyfornya, ain't so good...

[Tamara]

The only real beefs I have with TX gun law are:

1) "Concealed Means Concealed"; an inadvertent gust of wind and an unzipped windbreaker could theoretically cost you your permit, although I don't know if it's ever happened in practice.

2) The 51% law. This means that not even the designated driver can pack heat. Bad law.

3) Duty to inform. Why complicate a routine speeding ticket by risking that the LEO in question may have just moved down from Illinois?

4) I'm not hip on the training requirement for CCW; it denies some folks their rights as surely as does a poll tax.

[Beretta686]

I'd have to say Texas. Gunshows are full & plentiful, most cops don't freakout when you have gun in the car without a CHL (perfectly legal in Texas), all NFA toys are legal to own and typically when the cops show up when your blasting things with machine guns after you show them the paperwork their next question is: "Can I shoot it?"

Even in Austin our great, refreshing oasis of liberalism from all the conversatives in the rest of the state is gun-friendly and has tons of ranges, gunstores, a great gunshow every month & the sheriff signs off on NFA stuff a few days after you drop it off.

I'm sure other states are very pro-gun, I but I just don't have the experience to endorse them.

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by Beretta686

I'm sure other states are very pro-gun, I but I just don't have the experience to endorse them.

Really. I'm not kidding. TX gun law is fair to middlin'. It's about as good as PA or SC.

Don't get me wrong, the gun culture in TX is strong, but the laws really aren't all that hot.

(What about that nonsense about "If you qualify for your CCW with a revolver, then you can only carry a revolver"; did y'all ever get that fixed? )

[SPUSCG]

maine cant deny a ccw unless youre a felon or dishonorably discharged, also over the counter longarm sales are nice and we allow full autos

[PointOneSeven]

Washington State:

Concealed carry licenses cost $60 and your fingerprints, that's it. No waiting on guns if you have a permit, and no 'gun a month' or other restrictive nonsense.

Open carry is iffy, don't do it in the city (Seattle).

NFA items are pretty restricted though.

[DVC9]

MAINE

No specific state gun laws, concerning purchase and ownership. Just Federal Law.
No Magazine limits, or any restrictions other than as specified by the Feds.

Open carry allowed, loaded (exception if you are afield you better have a valid hunting Lic.

"Shall Issue" state. Municipalities may require basic safety course or some other proof of proficiency.

Class 3. Full auto & Suppressors allowed.

[KMO]

Tamara wrote,

I'm not hip on the training requirement for CCW

Does that mean you oppose the concept of CCW permits altogether? If one is OK with states granting such permits, then I think it reasonable to expect competency on the part of the permit holder.

[Tamara]

I prefer VT carry. You know, "shall not be infringed" and all...

If a state has to have a permit, the hurdles should be few and as low as possible.

GA and IN, for instance, want a few bucks and some fingerprints for the Feebs to check; no photos, no training course, ~$50 and ~$25 respectively.

[SamHouston]

Tamara, I agree that things in TX could be better with our gun laws but it gives us improvements to work on in the future and we are headed the right direction.

TX is now number 2 in population between CA & NY. Being in the middle of the country I figure we can have a strong voice to counter balance out the nuts on each coast.

Besides, that good economy thing goes a long way. If you ain't got no job the price ammo doesn't matter.

[armoredman]

AZ.
*deep breath* No registration, licensing, permit to carry open, magazine limit ban, "assault weapon" ban, purchase frequency ban,(one-gun-a-month), FOID, no requirement to go through a dealer for lawful face to face transfer, and no waiting period. Shall-Issue CCW permit, turnaround time is about 1-2 weeks, no fingerprints/renewal class to renew, 5 year permit, and legislation is underway now to make it life time/cap fees at $65. Castle Doctrine, and a beaut, no civil liabilty for justified conduct. Good shoot? Can't get sued.
NFA friendly, and a shocker for some, CCW permit is non weapon specific, so if you have a lawful Glock 18, you may carry it and other weapons at the same time concealed, lawfully. Legislation underway to allow CCW on college and university campuses, and to formally add illegal alien to the list of prohibeted possessors.
Downsides, can't carry off highways inside Indian reservations without tribal police permission, including casinos. So what, never go there anyway. Signage for "no guns allowed" is not spcified, so an itty bitty sign is legal for a business, but most no longer restrict lawful carry since we got CCW in '94. Would be nice if we could have Vermont style carry, but ours ain't bad, especially when you consider if your coat blows open here, you just went from lawful concealed, to lawful open. No big deal.
No arresting for "carrying to the terror of the public" or stupid garbage like that. This is the West, we don't get terrified at the sight of a firearm.
We have a law on the books allowing public schools to have firearms training, with mandatory range time to pass. When we get rid of Governor Naplitano, a Democrat former schoolteacher, we will try to make that the same as Drivers Ed.

Our laws get better every year nowadays. Lots of room for good gun people. Ranges everywhere, some city/county maintained, one, Ben Avery, was listed as a Jewel of the State by Gov Napalitano. I have a city maintained free range down the street from me...and there are no restrictions on what day of the week I can shoot, ala Massachusetts, as I was told by a former resident. Yikes.

[sterno]

Louisiana has really good gun laws. Outside of New Orleans, of course.

Pros-

Castle Doctrine
Shall-issue CCW
"Carjacker's Nightmare" laws "Carry in your car however/wherever you want"
Ranges and plenty of land to shoot on
Pretty healthy gun culture
no FOID, registration, or restrictions on Mags or any guns really

Cons-

$100 for 4 year CCW + $125 training course. Kinda sucks, but other than the money isn't really a problem.
New Orleans (unless you know someone important)
No carry in bars (bad for me because I don't drink but am a musician and spend alot of time in bars and clubs)

[Crosshair]

North Dakota. All NFA items are legal. One of the first Shall-issue states. You can have a loaded gun in the car as long as the chamber is empty.

All in All, things are good.

[Natskidive]

Castle Law

Handguns:
Permit to purchase handgun? No.
Registration of handguns? No.
Licensing of owners of handguns? No.


Other Requirements:
Is there a State waiting period? No.
Is there a NICS check for firearm transactions? Yes.
Permit to carry a concealed weapon required? Yes. (Shall issue)

permit application: $100/4yrs + $27 fingerprints
http://www.dps.state.ms.us/dps/dps.nsf/allforms/0F12E461F84E451586256F4E005B0702/$File/Individual%20Firearms%20Permit%20Package.pdf?OpenElement

law:
http://www.dps.state.ms.us/dps/dps.n...s?OpenDocument

[AirForceShooter]

Southern States avoid South and North Carolina.

AFS

[elkman06]

Wyoming is fairly decent on their gun issues. The only rules about ccw is concerning not being to carry in liquor establishments(doesn't make sense w/ a restraunt), and any kind of school event. I have a friend who moved here 2yrs ago from Michigan. Took him fishing one day. I had my SKS and 22mag rifles in the rack and a pistol under the seat. He looked over at the rifles and asked me if they were loaded. My reply involved the fact that an unloaded rifle was little more than an expensive club.
I got pulled over for speeding a couple months ago, I handed the trooper my license and ccw card at the same time. Trooper asked me what I was packing, I told the truth and she had no issues. In all fairness I was traveling in a new truck, fairly clean cut, and had the wife and daughter with me. Not the typical bad guy type presentation.
At any rate, Wyoming is a fairly good choice.
No state income tax, middle of the road property taxes. Just gotta understand we have 2 seasons. Winter and not winter.
Also, ccw is 5yr, $75 first time, $60 I think after that.
elkman06

[stephen426]

Florida is pretty good. It is really easy to get a carry license and cost about $115 for 5 years. I've had mine for a while so I forget how much exactly. Florida also started the whole "no need to retreat before you can defend yourself" law that has been adopted by many states. We don't have open carry here, but I don't really care. You also need a carry permit to carry or else it is a felony.

[azredhawk44]

I was gonna post about AZ, but armoredman did such an admirable job that I fail to be able to add anything more of value, other than:

I can't think of anything better than AZ's legislation (or lack thereof) in regards to firearms use and ownership than perhaps Alaska/Vermont style CCW - no paperwork required at all.

Other than that: if the feds don't ban it, we can do it.

[roy reali]

Lets not forget California. We don't want them to fell left out, do we?

[JWT]

Gotta agree with earlier responses that AZ is pretty darned good as far as gun laws are concerned. Now if only we can prevent folks from Kalifornica from migrating and trying to bring their 'enlightened' views of firearms with them....