most gun friendly states?

Alaska and Vermont are the best as far as gun laws go.

Out of the ones you're considering I know nothing about Washington or Wyoming. Arizona is more gun friendly than Texas, but Texas is working on getting that changed. Texas doesn't allow open carry yet, Arizona does. Any of your choices is going to be better than Maryland.

the true New England states (ME, VT & NH) are very good.

The mob. run, socialist states (MA, CT & RI) suck.

Nevada is pretty good. We have shall issue for concealed carry, instant background check for purchases so no waiting periods, only Clark County has handgun registration but that is done on the spot, NFA items are good to go, and you can also open carry. However open carry is not recommended on the Strip in Vegas.

IMHO:

1) Alaska
2) Vermont (but being partially surrounded by NY and MA is a big problem for travel)
3) Wyoming, Utah, Idaho tie
6) Arizona
7) Montana
8) Nevada
9) Texas

This is just off the cuff, not based on detailed research. NH probably belongs in or near the top 10, but I've never studied its laws much as I've never thought about moving to NH.

The mob. run, socialist states (MA, CT & RI) suck.

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Living in CT, I'd have to say it's a lot better than what I thought it was going to be. Pretty much shall issue to get a carry permit and it's easy to get, no restrictions on magazine capacity, hollow points, etc. No handguns are banned by name like in MA. Full auto stuff here is legal. Yes, CT still has a stupid, bastardized AWB, but you can have all sorts of "assault weapons". Any AR-15/M-4 unless it's a post ban Colt, which is insane since they are in Hartford, CT. Can have any AK as long as it's not chambered in 7.62. A lot more people are gun friendly here than I thought as well. Plenty of places to shoot, too. Very few off limits places for carry. Can even carry legally into a bar. It's also in the CT Constitution regarding bearing arms. "SEC. 15. Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state."

I lived in AZ for years and my family is still there. VERY gun friendly except for one hugely stupid law where you can't carry into ANY establishment that serves alcohol for consumption on site. So, pretty much any "adult" restaurant is a no no, even the chain ones like Chili's, Friday's, Outback, etc. AZ is not like FL where you can carry into places like that, but you only have to stay out of the bar area. They are working hard to get this changed and I hope they do. Another good thing about AZ is they have their permit system down pat. It only took nine days from the time I dropped my renewal paperwork in the mail until I had the actual permit here in CT and it was over a holiday weekend. It was only $43 and they bumped it up from 4 to 5 years.

Alaska > Vermont

Vermont does not allow silencers.

I would not put Texas on the list, the CCW restrictions are among the worst.

-T

Alaska has great laws thats for sure, but I suspect you wouldn't like it here.

Consider the often over looked Oregon. The carry laws are very good (bars and schools ok) and if you have the loot you can get machine guns and silencers if you want. Plus, there are lots of private and public ranges, as well as BLM lands to shoot on.

Arizona doesn't have the best laws (pretty good though), but IMHO we have some of the most gun friendly people around.

Open carry, evil black rifles, etc. don't really raise any eyebrows with police or regular folks.

Yeah, until you run in to the [folks] from CA or Prescott College students.

I know as I used to live in Prescott years ago (Dosie Pit was my second home) and it was getting bad then. Can't imagine what it's like now. When I first moved there in 1987, they still had hitching posts around the court house/Whiskey Row for horses and you'd see "old timers" dressed up in cowboy garb with twin six shooters all the time. Been back many times, including over the last holidays, and haven't seen it again except for one guy at The Palace, but I think he was the owner because I've seen him there more than once and he's always been the only one carrying. Unless he's a reserve cop or something they were just non-firing replicas because you cannot carry into any establishment selling alcohol for on-site consumption and I doubt he'd carry real ones so blatantly. Can't remember the last time I saw just a regular person open carrying, either.

Idaho and Utah are also very friendly. Go to the Library and check the most recent issue by the Justice Dept. of all the state firearms laws. It will tell you about each and every state. Or if you know someone with an FFL, they will have a copy. They receive a new and updated one every year.

Florida is very gun-friendly. One of the first shall-issue states, famous for our "castle doctrine" and "stand your ground" laws, relatively easy permit process, few regulations on travel in your vehicle, preemption laws.

Certain areas of the state are not so gun-friendly (mostly SE FL/Miami where all the NYers come to retire), which our preemption laws ameliorate somewhat, but since local police and prosecutors have discretion over when and if they will arrest and bring charges against someone, they could conceivably cause trouble.

Now whether you can stand the heat and humidity is another story (I've leved here 13 years and I still can't stand our summers).

Look at the Brady Bunch ratings for the states. Look at the bottom of the list and go from there

Don't forget PA.

Utah! Decent gun laws (and making progress) plus an economy that always beats the national average!

Indiana is a very gun friendly state as far as the law is concerned. Being a very rural state, most Hoosiers have grown up around guns. Indiana has a lifetime gun permit available as well which may be unique and gives reciprocity to all the other states' permits.

Indiana is a "shall issue" state with regard to CCW and OC (we make no distinction in fact under most circumstances) and we have a version of a castle doctrine here as well.

We have huge gun shows in Indianapolis every 3 months and small guns shows in just about every county fairground all year long.

Indiana is a very good place to own a gun, buy a gun, shoot, and hunt.

In my experience, we get about a C- in terms of good shooting ranges though...our only negative in this context.

I would consider WA State as one of the better, but not the best gun-states. Shall issue ccw, there are good ranges, the Washington Arms Collectors has two monthly gunshows that are pretty decent. Lots of huntable areas. Down side's are no full autos, silencers OK until attached to a firearm, and Puget Sound politicians are knee-jerk liberal. There are always a slew of gun limitations introduced in the legislature, but we have a very good political action team that has been effective in blocking them and pushing back with pro-gun bills. Even when the Dems had strong majority control in the legislature and the governor's chair most of the bad bills don't even make it out of committee.

One thing I forgot to add about AZ is they now recognize all other permits. Resident/non-resident...doesn't matter. With a CT and FL permit, I didn't even need to renew it, but I did it to support my home (and favorite) state. Besides, I'll retire/move back to AZ in 10-15 years, so keeping it current at $43 a pop (2 or 3 times), it's still much less expensive (and hassle) than letting it expire and have to start at ground zero all over again for an initial application because I will need the AZ permit when I become a resident again.

The Brady Bunch rated Kentucky as F- once. We slipped to a plain old F. We need to get our minus back.

I'm not that sure of my home state, Oregon. It won't recognize my adopted state's (Missouri) CCW...

The work has already been done for you. For our purposes, the lower the ranking the better.

http://www.stategunlaws.org/xshare/pdf/scorecard/2007/2007_scorecard_rankings.pdf

We have a three day waiting period on handgun purchases, a prohibition on open carry, and a few irritating (but not entirely problematic) conditions related to unlicensed car carry. That's really about it.

Major pluses include one of the most reciprocal CCW permits issued by any state and a very thorough castle doctrine.

Strangely enough, for having spent more than a decade in a state that some once termed "The New Wild West," I have yet to be threatened by somebody brandishing a firearm. For that matter, I haven't seen anybody threaten anybody else or fire at anybody else.

Thanks for the link. My state, TN, is tied for 35th place! That's good but no time to rest on our laurels. We'll do worse next year!

jws527 said:

We have a three day waiting period on handgun purchases

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That's easy to fix in FL. All a person has to do is get their carry permit and the wait goes away. Same thing here even in CT in the liberal north east.