Poll: The Continental 49. Which State Is the Most Gun Friendly?

Outlaw75 said:

I say Arizona. And not just because I'm a resident. But I could be wrong! I remember being taught in school that there are 48 states in the Continental United States, but based on the title of this post there is an extra one I don't know about! And for all I know that's the most gun friendly state!

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Contiguous

And I'll agree, AZ!

With respect, I think some of this data is skewed by the mandatory registrations in some states. The number for Hawaii seemed high to me, but doesn't Hawaii require registration of all firearms? Wouldn't rates look lower in states that have no registry?

It seems reasonable to suggest that one could only get really accurate data on ownership in the states with a registry. Data from other states would likely depend on 4473 data, which I guess would be accurate as long as a firearm purchased in a given state stayed there (as opposed to being shipped to a FFL in another state). Internal transfers (between family members) of firearms originally purchased prior to the GCA would skew things a little, but I'd think those numbers are probably getting fairly small by this point.

Note added later - please be advised that I am not advocating for a registry - I simply state that if there is a registry it will make ownership rates look higher, because a significant portion of the firearms in that state will be recorded.

Megawatt maker said:

now now, dont count PA among those. We are not the most gun friendly, but we are not gun unfriendly either. PA state police has a semi accurate list of our handguns. Doesnt include those who owned them before moving here, and doesnt include those given or inherited by certain family members. No list of long guns owned, no stupid waiting periods either. It's a shall issue state as well. Plus, the PA state police are very professional, they dont play politics, and when some try to force it in them (looking at you Wolf) the push back is pretty impressive.

We get rid of out worthless POS commie light governor, and find a way to give Philly to Jersey, it's pretty nice here. The Burgh has its idiots too, but not many.

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I have a friend whose house was broken into here in PA. He had some rifles stolen. The State Police had a list of every gun he’d bought of transferred through an FFL as well as the Garand he’d bought from the CMP. Don’t believe there’s not a de facto gun registry in PA.

I think Vermont is still up there looking purely at written law. Still no permit to carry, open carry permitted, no type of weapon is illegal, Constitutional right to self defense with firearms, lots of hunting and suppressors are now legal. However we have the harbingers of what is to come from flatlanders invasion : magazine limits, universal background checks, and red flag laws. We were the most friendly, now we are still very permissive, but a growing number of Vermonters are definitely not “friendly” to firearms.

Bwana John said:

Contiguous

And I'll agree, AZ!

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Ah, ya got me! Didn't think of it in that regard.

Wisconsin deserves mention ...
No waiting period for gun sales thru ffl ,
Prompt processing of concealed carry permits ,
Open carry legal,
FTF sales legal .

There has to be some here who voted for a state just because it's their state or something. Very curious to hear the reasoning from whoever voted for Vermont, Texas and Pennsylvania.

See my reasoning for VT above, but I actually voted for Wyoming currently.
The question was not “which state has the best gun laws” , which VT used to win hands down since it had none, but which is most “friendly”. I have never lived in WY but when I traveled their on a few occasions the people of the state seemed to almost universally accept firearms as part of daily life

Peter Gun said:

magazine limits, universal background checks, and red flag laws.

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40 states have no magazine capacity restrictions, 41 states do not have UBC's and 31 states do not have red flag laws. That knocks any state that does have those things well below half way, IMO.

Peter Gun said:

See my reasoning for VT above, but I actually voted for Wyoming currently.
The question was not “which state has the best gun laws” , which VT used to win hands down since it had none, but which is most “friendly”. I have never lived in WY but when I traveled their on a few occasions the people of the state seemed to almost universally accept firearms as part of daily life

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"Friendly" is certainly harder to quantify, but I would wager that, generally speaking, the gun laws of a state are often indicative of the overall attitude of it's citizens towards guns.

bearcreek said:

40 states have no magazine capacity restrictions, 41 states do not have UBC's and 31 states do not have red flag laws. That knocks any state that does have those things well below half way, IMO.

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I don’t disagree it takes us down some steps, but still having almost no restrictions on carry and a right to self defense written in our constitution still puts us above halfway I would argue. However, I fear for the future that looks much like NY

I think a lot of the time our opinions on something non quantifiable like "friendliness" towards guns for a given state can be warped based on what part of the state we're looking at. My area of Ohio would have more in common with what people envision in Idaho than it does with a couple counties over in Cuyahoga. Conversely, a place like Moscow, for example, in Idaho, might seem more like what people envision for Ohio.

Waveski said:

Wisconsin deserves mention ...
No waiting period for gun sales thru ffl ,
Prompt processing of concealed carry permits ,
Open carry legal,
FTF sales legal .

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I've heard open carry is legal in WI , I spend a decent amount of time in southern WI and I've never seen anyone do it. I think it would draw some unwanted attention if a guy were walking around the dells , Milwaukee or lake Geneva (or the surrounding cities or towns) with their gun in full view - maybe there are ordnances against OC in the city?. I've got family in Florence co. , I'm sure it's more common up that way but I haven't been that far north for a visit in a long time.

There is one acid test, as far as I am concerned: does the state allow machine guns, or not?

Interesting, how many don’t? Seems redundant to the federal regulations on machine guns.

Wyoming.

Georgia, Florida, and Alabama are all much better than Texas and several others on the list.

Humor Post of the Day:

''My state is super!'' Then, a scant 2 sentences later, ''state police have a list of everything !''

Obturation said:

I've heard open carry is legal in WI , I spend a decent amount of time in southern WI and I've never seen anyone do it. I think it would draw some unwanted attention if a guy were walking around the dells , Milwaukee or lake Geneva (or the surrounding cities or towns) with their gun in full view - maybe there are ordnances against OC in the city?. I've got family in Florence co. , I'm sure it's more common up that way but I haven't been that far north for a visit in a long time.

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Don't mean to veer off subject , but I have seen the occasional case of OC here in my city of approx 60,000 in Wisconsin. (recently in a flower shop...) I agree with the "unwanted attention" part of your statement as was discussed in another recent thread. I referenced open carry as one way to access the state's "gun friendliness". I am not aware of any local ordinances , aside from individual properties being posted , businesses and such. Those that are posted "no firearms" are a fairly small minority.

The theme parks have control of Florida's legislators, Marion Hammer put the hex on any type of open carry, knee jerk 'red flag' laws after MSD school shooting and no one under 21 can buy a gun.
The GunShine state has it's problems.

Peter Gun said:

I think Vermont is still up there looking purely at written law. Still no permit to carry, open carry permitted, no type of weapon is illegal, Constitutional right to self defense with firearms, lots of hunting and suppressors are now legal. However we have the harbingers of what is to come from flatlanders invasion : magazine limits, universal background checks, and red flag laws. We were the most friendly, now we are still very permissive, but a growing number of Vermonters are definitely not “friendly” to firearms.

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She was my vote, I live in that little tiny state south of you. Given that, your states choice of Senators is puzzling.

Rhode Island’s constitution mirrors America’s. Carry laws are restrictive and getting harder to overcome, buts it’s a shall issue state, purchasing wait times onerous but given it’s the bluest of the blue states not bad at all.

So, it seems like we’re defining gun friendly as mostly the ability to open carry (when combined with other things).

For me, open carrying wouldn’t even play into my metric of gun friendly because it’s not something I do.

I cleaned up some ranting and bad words. Tone that down a bit.

I think Florida is a great state when it comes to firearms laws! I really can’t think of anything I’d like to do firearm related that the state of Florida is preventing me from doing.

I can pretty much carry wherever I want, own all types of high cap mags, machine guns, destructive devices and we have very “liberal” laws on the discharge of firearms.

Year after year I am astounded how Florida is able to keep it together. We have less registered Republicans than we do Democrats yet still maintain a Florida Supreme Court all of which was appointed by Republicans, A Republican Governor, Attorney General and two Republican Senators.

However with our easily amended constitution and rapidly changing demographics I don’t think this will last. States like Texas, Arizona and Florida look good for now but will fall in the next election cycle or two.

I am personally looking at Idaho (along with everyone else apparently) specifically Idaho Falls. I’m sending my mom out there next spring to live for a year and get a feel for the place before committing to make the move.

Based on my research and personal travels/experiences I would say Idaho and Wyoming are not only the most gun friendly but also the most likely to remain that way in the coming decades.

Dan