What is the most gun friendly state?

Vermont maybe?

I'm sure Texas ranks right up there. Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, too.

from what i see on tv...

Alaska

You can't open carry in Texas. That seems pretty silly.

Alaska, Arizona, and Vermont need no approval to conceal carry.

I'm not sure how those three stack on NFA items. I don't have a NFA chart handy.

I might be inclined to say Texas if they allowed open carry. With OC banned though, I'd say that makes it pretty hard to call them the friendliest

Florida isn't bad.

Florida +1, Alaska, NH, VT, AZ NV, NM, ID, UT, WY and on and on - most are Western states

Seems like I always hear good things about Utah. Arizona however you don't need a license for C&C. I want to point out that's the beauty of the US as it stands, if you don't like the values your state holds to a strong enough degree, there is likely one out there that will suit you better.

Utah is probably the gun friendliest followed by Kentucky. This is based on the Brady bunch's ratings from worse to best with Utah the worst and Kentucky second worse Texas and Florida rated a couple point higher than either. I will also add that Kentucky has the most CCDW permits in the nation and that from a state who's total population is about 4.5 million people.

Washington state is probably one of the friendliest and, unlike Texas, I see people open carrying all over here and the police forces have been trained, as of recently, to actually understand the laws of open carry, compared to other states where many people who attempt to open carry still find nervous cops with guns drawn on them.

The only strike against Washington is no Short barrel (NFA) long guns. Short barrel AR/AK pistols are allowed. Suppressors are now allowed to be both owned and fired in the state of WA (an old law prevented this which is now been overturned). This has to do with a glitch in law that was implemented in the past and not so much to do with the current mentality of the government. I guess one more strike against Washington is the city of Seattle always tries to pass its own gun bans, but they seem to always fail. There is actually quite a few gun ranges in the Seattle area for a metro area of its size. This may also have to do with the fact Seattle runs north to south and a lot of remote forest land parallels the metro area, making it even more gun friendly .

Washington state was also a shall-issue state long before the other so-called "gun friendly" states were still may or no issue.

Having Mt Rainier in the backdrop of your shooting range is just a really wonderful experience as well.

Idaho I would say is on paper more gun friendly than Washington, but I never seen anyone open carry in Idaho (except me ) and don't believe it is looked well upon. Whereas, in Washington I see people open carry everywhere. Even this guy sitting next to me in the DMV as I was waiting for my license had his 1911 on his hip.

Oregon is also a gun friendly state, if you remove Portland from the equation. If the Hi-Cap mag passes in Oregon, then Washington will easily take the helm as the more gun friendly of the two.

joecil said:

Utah is probably the gun friendliest followed by Kentucky. This is based on the Brady bunch's ratings from worse to best with Utah the worst and Kentucky second worse Texas and Florida rated a couple point higher than either. I will also add that Kentucky has the most CCDW permits in the nation and that from a state who's total population is about 4.5 million people.

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As far as I heard Utah doesn't have Castle Doctrine or a Stand Your Ground Law. That is a major strike in the world of gun friendliness as far as I am concerned.

I'll throw in my vote for Alaska as the environment up there has made regulations unpractical and ownership a necessity.

I'd also like to throw in Wisconsin however. We don't get much credit up here, mostly due to our long standing prohibition on CC, but with that now institutionalized we have a pretty good thing going on. Full NFA state (full auto, sbs and sbr, suppressors), suppressor hunting friendly, no arduous requirements except a 2 day waiting period on handguns, and plenty of places to use your firearms for whatever reason including a couple spacious Nat Forests to play around in.

Evergreen, you're saying that Washington and Oregon are the most gun friendly states?

Really?

Indiana is ok.

MaterDei said:

Evergreen, you're saying that Washington and Oregon are the most gun friendly states?

Really?

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Yes I am... At least as of now... I did grow up in Oregon and live in Washington, as well as lived in Idaho and travelled through Montana. Even Montana is not as gun friendly as Washington. In Montana, I cannot bring a gun into any restaurant that serves alcohol, even if I am not sitting at the bar. In Washington and Oregon, no such BS rules apply. Basically, in Montana you have to leave your gun in your car if you go to a restaurant, as 90% of them serve some type of alcohol.

In states like Texas you cannot even open carry, which is a real pain for me, as I love hiking and in the hot weather I like carrying my gun on my chest holster over my shirt, as it gets too hot to conceal it under my vest.

Go apply for a CHL in WA and you will see how easy it is.. No classes, certificates or other BS to get a CHL.. It isn't much different than AZ, except a $50 fee to the Sheriff. WA is shall issue state even for out of state residents..

Washington state has preemption on gun laws so it keeps liberal cities from enacting stricter laws. Washington is friendly, but not the friendliest by any stretch of the imagination. People here open carry but we only get suppressors or AOW in the NFA game unless you were grandfathered in a few decades ago.

You can't pump your own gas in Oregon.

How does no-one mention ME. Shall-issue CCW, OC, and full NFA

Cesiumsponge said:

Washington state has preemption on gun laws so it keeps liberal cities from enacting stricter laws. Washington is friendly, but not the friendliest by any stretch of the imagination. People here open carry but we only get suppressors or AOW in the NFA game unless you were grandfathered in a few decades ago.

You can't pump your own gas in Oregon.

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This is not 100% true anymore about suppressors.. Suppressors are now 100% legal to own , buy and shoot in the state of Washington. The law against suppressors was struck down or expired. I have seen suppressors for sale at stores and I can shoot them at my local gun range in the Tacoma area.

True, I forgot about the law about full autos. That is a strike against WA. Considering ammo prices, that law doesn't affect me. I'd take the loss of owning full autos to not being allowed to open carry, such as in the state of Texas.

I know people here in Washington think it is not the gun friendliest state. We keeping thinking of "Texas" or Montana or Southern states. But when you go and study their gun laws you will be amazed to see many of them have unconstitutional rules that our own state doesn't have.

For example, read above about my experience in Montana, not being allowed to bring a gun into a restaurant. I thought going to Montana would mean i had more gun freedom, not less!

There are definitely two sides to Washington, the dry side helps to balance out the libby wet side containing Seattle. As Evergreen said, Seattle is definitely NOT gun friendly, in fact it's probably among staunchest anti-gun cities in the States, but luckily the dry side balances things out nicely for us; at least for the time being. The recent gun buy back was a bit concerning, though, as the turnout was huge, far more than expected in fact. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come for our state, but I'm afraid it may very well be.

The state just elected another Democrat as governor, although there was some silver lining in that Rob Mckenna (R) was nipping at his heels. This shows me people may be growing tired of the blue disease up here, but again, the recent attack on the 2A led by the city of Seattle and propagated by the local media is of concern.

KY has open carry. Our CCDW covers any conceivable personal weapon not just firearms.
NFA friendly. (Knob Creek anybody?)
Castle Doctrine? Yup. KRS 503.055

....and the constitution preempts any firearms laws by local gub'ments.

Iowa is up there, open carry whatever you like up here.

Ya, I agree with my neighbors, Washington rocks, Idaho sucks. We are no better than NYC for gun laws. Don't move here, you should move to Washington!

Cesiumsponge said:

You can't open carry in Texas. That seems pretty silly.

Alaska, Arizona, and Vermont need no approval to conceal carry.

I'm not sure how those three stack on NFA items. I don't have a NFA chart handy.

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What about Wyoming?

Go to the Brady website and check how they rate each state in gun safety. Basically, the lower the score given by the Brady campaign, the better off gun owners are there.

Cesiumsponge said:

Alaska, Arizona, and Vermont need no approval to conceal carry.

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Wyoming doesn't require a permit to carry concealed either.

I took a trip to Texas in January, and read through the laws on guns and knives before we left. I was pretty disappointed with what I found. I wouldn't call Texas a gun-friendly state; certainly not knife-friendly.

Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming, Vermont. In that order.