What is the most gun friendly state?

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Evergreen said:
I sure hope WA gun laws will stay as non-restrictive as they are. Outside of Seattle/Bellevue proper, things redden up around the wet side. Pierce (outside Tacoma), Clark and Whatcom counties where I have lived are more on the conservative side.

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WA St. might be an exception (truly) but there are plenty of BLUE gun owners and carriers.

The permit numbers in Sno, King, and Pierce counties wouldnt be what they are if there werent.
 
Cesiumsponge said:
Another one for WA: all gun safes are tax free. Good incentive for folks that need to buy some armor for their guns. I didn't even know other states had a ban on church-carry, if folks are mentioning church-carry is legal. It's legal everywhere in WA except in bars, 21+ drinking areas, and your typical government buildings.

One thing fairly unique to the western half of WA is the vast wildnerness and huge outdoor culture. 30 minutes of driving and you're in the forests or mountains. Half the olympic penninsula is a rainforest. I can grab my mountain bike and get muddy without having to plan an all-day trip, or hump a pack for a day or weekend trip. I'm big on rain and mud so I haven't really spent much time on the eastern half of the state, but I'm sure those folks have a lot more land for long-range gun ranges. We have none of that on our end. The summers aren't too hot and winters aren't too cold. No poisonous critters to deal with. Don't get much sun though, but I like that. I really don't want more people moving to WA...at least not Californians. They keep driving up our real estate and screwing up our politics. Seattle used to be a very blue-collar city. Now it's full of people who absolutely hate the blue-collar class.

Evergreen, I still think you're misunderstanding me. I have my fair share of cans. I implied they never saw the light of day because we could legally own them, but not actually USE them until a couple years ago when the suppressor law was ammended. I've had cans before they were legal to use, but were legal to own. Luckily that ridiculous bit of legislation no longer exists. Current Form 4 times is around 5 months with a trust. I just had one come back to me on the 16th of January which was submitted June of last year (delayed slightly due to an error). The NFA recently hired nine more examiners but 2-3 months is a tall tale. My first Form 4 years ago took 4 months, before it was all jammed up by election scares. There is no way it can be 2-3 months with the huge spike in NFA sales due to election/ban scares.

I'm hoping to move to north Tacoma in the next year or two. I'm tired of King county taxes. Tacoma's northern downtown area by the bay is awesome. Still very blue-collar vibe as long as I stay away from the silly gang stuff, but that's all migrating south into Lakewood.
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Thanks for clarifying the issue about the suppressors, Cesium. I think I understand what you are saying now. Yeah, they previously had some stupid laws restricting them, but now, those laws have been abolished, thankfully!

I also really like North Tacoma and find the beauty here near Puyallup to be amazing. I actually like Tacoma a whole lot more than Seattle and the city seems to be rejuvenating itself. Lakewood and Southeast Tacoma seem a world away from the North and west side. People in Tacoma seem a lot friendlier and there is lot of outdoorsy people and stuff to do here. The scenery with the Olympics and Rainier/Cascades is next to none. T-town actually has stuff going for it. I may consider one day relocating to North Tacoma too, if I can get the funds.

I've recently moved to the area and I am a member of Paul Bunyan and I'm always looking for people to shoot with, as I don't get much time to go out to the range anymore, Let me know if you make it down this way.


9MMare said:
WA St requires no training or test to receive your permit. Shall-issue in 30 days, almost always less except King Co. (and now apparently, because of a huge upswing in applications)

You can carry almost anywhere, including banks and hospitals and restaurants that serve alcohol...just not in the sections where under 21 are not allowed. And not fed. property of course.

The only area where I think OR has an advantage is I believe they can carry on school grounds but I dont know the details of that.
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9mmAre, I am from Oregon and I have studied the laws. Unless things have changed, you are allowed to carry on non-college or university public schools if you have a conceal carry license. Oregon you can also carry in a bar, even if you are drinking. The mayor of Portland deemed downtown Portland a "Gun Free Zone", but he will have a heck of time fighting it in court. Every person arrested so far just gets booked, not charged and then let out within a couple hours. Just the liberal Portland government thugs harrassing the law-abiding. Outside of Portland, Oregon has the best (least restrictive in the country) laws. Although, the liberal San Franciscans/Los Angelinos who now reside in Oregon are trying to change that. A new Hi-Cap ban is being introduced in the Oregon state Senate.
 
I like to do this every so often to see how much I can remember on the spot.

UT does not yet have Constitutional carry. We're working on it.
Visibly possessing a gun cannot be called brandishing.
Black and white law stating that bearing arms cannot be construed as disturbing the peace is currently under debate. (It narrowly failed last year.)
You can carry at any school, pre-university.
State has pre-emption.
Businesses cannot forbid carry.
You can open carry anywhere you can carry concealed with a permit. (While I don't recommend doing it at your kid's school, probably nothing will happen.)
You can carry at church as long as you aren't Mormon.
You can carry in a bar, you can drink while carrying, as long as you stay below .08.
BLM land, national parks, state parks, all ok for carry.
If you don't like that NM and NV dropped for lack of a competency requirement, ask AZ for a permit. (My packet came in the mail today.)
Stand your ground and castle doctrine before it was cool.
Immunity from civil suit if no-billed in criminal case.
Desert, rivers, mountains, cities, microbrews, hippies, theater, gay culture, opera, ballet, conservatives, Mormons, atheists, take your pick. (And you CAN get a drink here.)
No duty to inform police you are carrying. (But I do recommend it, the response is overwhelmingly positive.)
No state laws over and above federal for gun ownership.

Bottom line, we were gleeful when we got the first ever 'F' grade from the Brady Foundation, we were VERY jealous when AZ tied us, we want the title back. We want an F MINUS.
 
Washington state is open carry except for about 4 city ordinances (Vancouver in SW Washington and 3 or 4 cities aroiund and including Seattle). But they are pretty cool about gun ownership. Glad I live here and not in Commie-fornia where I was unfortunately born. :D
 
Deen Macheen said:
Glad I live here [WA] and not in Commie-fornia where I was unfortunately born. :D
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You're right about that. I was born in Khalifornistan too, but I was raised in northwest Washington. Its got a healthy dose of liberals and antis, but its definitely got its benefits. Like Mount Baker in January.
 
Deen Macheen said:
Washington state is open carry except for about 4 city ordinances (Vancouver in SW Washington and 3 or 4 cities aroiund and including Seattle). But they are pretty cool about gun ownership. Glad I live here and not in Commie-fornia where I was unfortunately born. :D
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I've heard of several people open carrying in Vancouver, Wa.. Since when did any cities have the right to restrict open carry, especially with a CHL? That is news to me. Even Northwest Firearms forum organizes Open Carry events in the city of Vancouver. At least I thought they were in Vancouver.
 
Evergreen said:
I've heard of several people open carrying in Vancouver, Wa.. Since when did any cities have the right to restrict open carry, especially with a CHL? That is news to me. Even Northwest Firearms forum organizes Open Carry events in the city of Vancouver. At least I thought they were in Vancouver.
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As long as you have a CHL you can open carry in Vancouver. I was talking about people carrying in city limits with no CHL. Sorry I wasn't clear. The PD may not even make an issue over CHL as long as the gun is holstered. I have not heard of the PD bothering anyone over it, except on private property like Vancouver Mall which is posted for no firearms. So yes you are right about events.
 
Probably Alaska, Kentucky, Oklahoma, my state Indiana is real good. Arizona. Texas is gun friendly but they do have a lot of gun laws. Florida.

My vote for number 1 is probably a two-way tie Alaska and Kentucky.
 
Texas is gun friendly but they do have a lot of gun laws.
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Right. TX has tons of bravado and we like to brag big on our state.

But if you look at it, we're a real old school "law and order" state, not a libertarian minded state like some of the western ones.
 
You're right about that. I was born in Khalifornistan too, but I was raised in northwest Washington. Its got a healthy dose of liberals and antis, but its definitely got its benefits. Like Mount Baker in January.
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When it's nice here, it's great, but this year has been a real washout, so much so I was up at a shooting hole in the mountains last weekend and there was almost no snow 2/3 of the way up. Most years we'd be looking at several feet at the base of the entrance making it impossible to get up there unless you're on foot or a snow mobile (maybe).

I see you're in AZ, I am actually looking at relocating there in the near future once I finish the CPA exam. My parents are in Palm Springs and I love the dry weather and the desert, being only a few hour's drive away from them would be nice as they are starting to get a bit older. Glad to see all my ideas about AZ's gun friendliness have be reinforced in this thread.
 
Evergreen said:
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.
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Evergreen,

Yea I don't know about that. The only time you need a conceal weapons permit in MT is if you're inside city limits. Everywhere else a conceal weapons permit isn't needed. I don't think that is the same for Washington. A conceal weapons permit is needed to conceal anywhere in WA. So in MT a person doesnt really ever have to get a conceal weapons permit. if you're in a city, just make it open carry and even then there are exemptions if you're passing through for hunting and other "outdoor" activities. You talked about leaving a gun in a car in MT, which is illegal to do in WA unless it's in a lock box. No such thing as a "truck gun" for WA. You also can't carry a loaded rifle in a vehicle in WA. That also includes ATVs as well I believe.

The exemption of carry in a place where alcohol is consumed is in regards to conceal carry so, again, a gun would not need to be left in a car, just make it open carry.

Except for the bar restriction on conceal carry in MT, WA appears to be more restrictive than MT.
 
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Virginia is pretty good, shall isse for CC, open carry allowed most places, and no stupid state-level restrictions. It rocks the house (by comparison) as I live in Northern Virginia and given the laws in DC and Maryland.
 
jim920 said:
Indiana is ok.
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Indiana is very good in fact. We do not have open carry as such. However, our CC permits (called "License to Carry a Handgun") makes no stipulation on how that handgun must or can be carried. You got the license, carry it any way you like...open or concealed. We have none of that business where if somebody sees you CC weapon you're violating. We do have to have the license to carry in a vehicle but again, there is no stipulation on how to carry in that vehicle if licensed. And, that license is lifetime! Not very many gun free zones here either...just the usual ones (court houses, pro sports venues, post offices, and airports is about it). None of that business about no CC in a bar or restaurant although there are plenty of bars that wouldn't let you in if they knew you were carrying but that's gonna be between you and their bouncer...not a legal issue. We have none of that "official state sanctioned no weapons" signs either...that legally prohibits you from carrying if displayed...none of that here.

Indiana probably lacks the ingrained hunting culture that some of our close neighbors have (Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin) but there are certainly a lot of hunters here. Thus the slightly lowered participation in an active gun culture. Indiana is very flat and very fertile and thus the place was plowed up as fast as they could. So lots and lots of farmers back in the old days had guns but they were not the dedicated hunters in most cases that we see in the western states for example.

But as far as freedom goes vis-a-vis firearms, Indiana is really good, the police are not a problem for the lawful gun owner in just about all the cities including Indianapolis, politicians on both sides of the political aisle are pro-gun, and there are some very good gun shops here.
 
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Wyoming is about as good as it gets.
Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Arizona all know what gun rights are all about.
Open carry has always been legal here. Concealed carry used to require a permit, but we did away with that.
We'd just as soon go along our own way and not be bothered by what outsiders think.
 
Georgia

Georgia should rank pretty high on the list. Shall Issue, open or concealed, state preemption, suppressed stuff ok (maybe even for hunting, depends on final legislation), castle doctrine, stand your ground. Carry in vehicle OK even without permit. Fair amount of reciprocity (SC why won't you play nice).

If we could just carry in church it would be perfect.
 
Actually now that you mention it that does seem strange where Wyoming fell. I didn't even notice that it wasn't near the top.

Looking at the grading standards Wyoming was given 4 points for gun dealer regulations (record keeping and inspection by police) and 2 points for no guns on college campuses. Wyoming was "demirited" 2 points for no CCW permit requirement.

http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/stateleg/scorecard/2011/2011_scoring_system.pdf
 
Thursday45 said:
You talked about leaving a gun in a car in MT, which is illegal to do in WA unless it's in a lock box. No such thing as a "truck gun" for WA. You also can't carry a loaded rifle in a vehicle in WA. That also includes ATVs as well I believe.

The exemption of carry in a place where alcohol is consumed is in regards to conceal carry so, again, a gun would not need to be left in a car, just make it open carry.

Except for the bar restriction on conceal carry in MT, WA appears to be more restrictive than MT.
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When I go out to a restaurant (that serves alcohol) with friends I do not NOT want to OC. So much for 'concealed means concealed,' I'd be outed forever. Sometimes, it makes a difference in whether the law is relevant to you in common usage, rather than something like silencers being legal.

As for needing a lock box in a car in WA...is that a new law? I'm not aware of it.
 
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