Let’s try this for a thread

[whipper]

Tell how your state treats you as gun owner.
Meaning do they accept you as a person with a hobby. Or a person that is dangerous to humanity by owning a gun.

I live in The Republic of California, the most hateful state against gun owners. I could be wrong but let’s see what others say about their state in which they live in.

 

[mikeb3185]

new york is not much better. here IF you get your permit every county has its own set of restrictions it can/will impose. such as "NYS CARRY PERMIT - RESTRICTIONS: HUNTING AND TARGET. not to mention we now have our own "assult weapons" ban, which includes the 10rd mag restriction.

 

[Gator]

Here in north eastern Illinois (where Chicago casts its shadow) we are looked at as potential mass murderers....

 

[carterbeauford]

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - let's just say I'm not moving.

Seriously, no-hassle CCW process, friendly with the possible exception of Philadelphia, no capacity restrictions, class 3, etc.

 

[rangerruck]

texas could be better, too many dem mayors sneek in backdoor due to old time gerrymandering, such as houston, but all in all, not bad.

 

[WayneConrad]

Took sweetie to the doctor this morning, sidearm on, not concealed. Took my seat in the waiting room and did puzzles while I waited. Nobody screamed, nobody called the cops. Went shopping after work, still open carry. Nobody much cared that in this city of more than a million souls I was lugging around a sidearm.

I know I'm gloating just a little, but this state does treat gun owners pretty good.

CCW is "shall issue," which is great, but it's too gosh darned hot to want to get all snuggly with a pistol.

 

[vanilla_gorilla]

Florida:

Shall-issue CCW
Class 3
Civil immunity in righteous shoots
In my part of the state, you are viewed as a suspicious entity until you prove you have a firearm.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Oregon isn't too bad. Shall issue, all NFA goodies, open carry (although I wouldn't do it in the big cities). I don't think we have a stand your ground law unfortunately but hopefully we will eventually.
I live in a town of about 20k people and the sounds of gunshots on the weekends mean people are out having fun plinking in their yards, not drivebys, which makes me even more glad I moved away from the city.

 

[Zen21Tao]

Florida:

(building off vanilla-gorillas list)

- shall issue CCW
- Class 3 ok
- Civil Immunity
- Castle Doctrine
- Stand your ground law (Castle Doctrine extended to public places)
- Can carry if state and national forrest law
- Protected hunting land
- CCW rettained during state of emergency protection
- no waiting period on handgun purchases for CCW holders
- contiguous state buys on long guns ok
- best CCW reciprocation with other states
- new legislation passed to protect CCW holders private info
- Face to Face transfers w/out FFL ok
- no mag capacity limits
- no AWB bans
- absolutely no firearm registration requirements

What a great state for those that value freedom.

 

[Old Dog]

For the most part, being a gun-owner -- and a gun-carrier -- in Washington State is a good thing. When I moved up here from California in 1994, of course my first order of business was to phone my local police department to inquire as to the procedure for registering my firearms in my new state. At this point, I was still remembering the horrible experience (and three visits to the main station of the Honolulu PD) when I was forced to register my guns upon moving to Hawaii prior to relocating again to California ...

Me: "Hi, I just moved to this state; what do I need to do to register my personal firearms which I brought with me?"

Woman answering phone at PD: "Uh, nothing. You must have moved up here from California, right? But if you come down here tomorrow and pay the $60 fee, we'll issue you a Concealed Pistol License."

No training requirement for CPLs. You'll get your first one within about 10 days. Renewal is $35 bucks (or was last time I renewed). Only thing is the lack of a training requirement is apparently what stops most states from granting reciprocity to those with WA CPLs. Currently, we've got reciprocity with only about six other states, although about a total of 10 recognize our CPLs.

One will find, especially once one leaves King County, that the local PDs, SOs and the WSP regard those who carry concealed pistols about the same as they do any citizen they would encounter -- it's just not a big deal for them. Of course -- WA was the first shall-issue state, way back when.

We can carry pretty much anywhere (except bars, courthouses, mental health facilities and stadiums) and hunting is not considered with horror by most of the citizenry hereabouts ... Gunshops are easily found, gun prices are on balance pretty good, gun clubs abound and range facilities are available most everywhere.

Except for the lack of support for open carry and ownership of Class III weapons here, gun-ownership and gun-packing is generally regarded as normal (except, as noted, in and around Seattle, Mercer Island, Bainbridge Island or any of the other liberal enclaves around here where the inhabitants are totally out of touch with what everyone else in the state considers normal).

 

[Maser]

Kind of hard to answer this question because I live in Cali and even though we have like the toughest gun laws of the entire US, I get treated rather well. Only people who get on my nerves is the PETA people.

 

[JasonMD85]

Im suprised no one from MD has said anything yet. Im not 100% sure on our laws yet, but from what I have been told they are pretty harsh.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Let's talk about Maryland.
You can get a CCW but almost always in the case of a business involving money transfers, not protecting your life. Duh.
You can transport a firearm to a hunting or range or gunsmith.
You can transport a firearm in your car provided it is in your trunk, locked in a carrying case, separated from the rounds, no magazines loaded. By the way don't stop to get gas on the way you are breaking the law.
You can buy one gun a month, whoopie.
The gun you buy in Maryland must meet a strict approved list by the state.
The maximun rounds you can have in a pistol is ten.
If you can find a gun store in your local area the prices are liable to give you sticker shock. (there is hardly any competition).
Politically this State is not gun friendly at all. One of the worst. Baltimore Violent crime is typically one of the highest in large cities.
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

 

[atlctyslkr]

Pretty good here in Georgia. Georgia pretty much copies what Florida does. Reciprocity is pretty high (I think only Florida has more). We have "Stand your Ground". No restrictions on mags. No special state laws, defalts to the federal laws on sawed offs and full auto. Permits are relatively easy to get, does take a while for the paperwork to get done but it's not hard to do. No open carry here, must have license to step outside your home or business with a loaded handgun.

 

[hso]

TN treats us as a resource.

 

[Chris Rhines]

The gun you buy in Maryland must meet a strict approved list by the state.

To be fair, the approved handguns list (it's just pistols, not all firearms) is pretty all-inclusive. It still cheezes me off that such a list exists, though.

The maximun rounds you can have in a pistol is ten.

No. You can't buy, sell, or transfer a magazine over 20 rounds in Maryland, but posession is just fine.

- Chris

 

[usp9]

Virginia has a number of "normal" type restrictions, but it is easy and inexpensive to get a CCL. I've lived here for over five years and have had no trouble buying or carrying. The only places I've noticed that bar CCW are the local banks.


:banghead:
I moved from Maryland, where I did possess a CCL. It was an ordeal to obtain and was loaded with restrictions...almost not worth the effort. Glad I moved.

 

[mzmtg]

GA is only so-so.

Loaded guns can be carried in vehicles without a permit. They must be in view, or in the glove box, console or other similar compartment.

No carry (open or concealed) in public without a permit.

Permits are "shall-issue," but the probate offices always take much longer than the statutory 60-day limit to issue CCWs. When questioned, they usually make no excuses for blatantly ignoring state laws.

No extra steps in firearms purchasing, so that's good. NFA stuff is good to go as long as your local CLEO is cool with it all.

However...

GA one of the longest lists of places that are off limits to CCW. Not only is the list long, but the definitions are very vague.

The biggest bugaboo is the "public gathering." It is not clearly defined at all. Case law has held a public gathering not to be a any public place, but an event or common purpose for which the public might gather. Some in law enforcement have even mentioned that two people in line for a water fountain could be considered a "public gathering" since members of the public had gathered there for the "common purpose" of getting water. Yes, it's that nuts.

No carry on public transportation, or withn a "reasonable area" around a terminal or bus stop.

No carry in any establishment that sells alcohol for consumption on the premises.

1000-foot gun free school zones.

No carry in any publicly owned building or property.

No carry in state parks.

The list goes on and on and on.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Massachusetts is strange. Although basically anti-gun, there's no waiting period and no limit to the number of firearms I can buy at once. There few if any state laws restricting where you can carry. For example, I can and do carry into places that serve alcohol, however when I do so, I do not drink.

Open carry is widely regarded as illegal. Although this is technically not true, "brandishing" is illegal. Most people here are so afraid of guns that the mere sight of a firearm could be considered brandishing. I know few people that would be willing to test this "law", because the first thing that would happen is that they would yank your permit, and until recently there was no formal appeals process in place to allow you to get it back. This scaredy-cat attitude is a relatively recent phemonenon - in the 1980's my friends and I routinely carried our shotguns and rifles on public transportation buses without a second look.

Massachusetts is not a "shall issue" state. Whether of not you get a concealed carry permit is totally up to the local CLEO. In some towns it is easy - I got an "all lawful purposes" concealed carry permit in six days, in spite of a few old "blemishes" on my record. In other towns it is near impossible to get a CC permit under any circumstances. Only recently has the state instituted an appeals process - thanks in big part to G.O.A.L. (see my sig).

Most of the inconvenience for gun owners is a result of the unrestrained political actions one person - Atty General Tom Reilly. He used his "consumer protection" powers to sneak through a regulation prohibiting FFL's from transferring any handgun not on his "list". Non-FFL citizens can do whatever we want, the restrictions are for dealers only. He also filed civil (criminal?) actions againsts online and mail-order retailers for selling reloading components to juveniles (he used Boy Scouts as schills). As a result, most retailers will not sell even brass or bullets to anyone in Mass. Fortunately, he's running for Governor and it looks like he'll lose.

Mass has kept the Clinton AWB so we can only buy hi-caps that were here before 94. There seems to be more and more of these every day.

You can own full auto weapons with the proper permit (Class E) and I know a few people that have them. I plan on getting mine sometime in the future.

New Hampshire is 5 minutes away. If things get much worse, I'll move. Politically, I'm much more aligned with the traditional New Hampshire natives than I am with most of the people here.

 

[Ala Dan]

Basically, Alabama is a gun friendly state with NO major hoops too have to
jump thru~! If I had to make a guesstimate, I would say that nearly
all households had at least one firearm within.

 

[joab]

Vanilla and I must live in the same part of Fla.

One thing I would like to see in Fla is open carry

Can't complain about much else

 

[Mannlicher]

I don't think you can really quantify how your State treats you as a gun owner Some states are more 'gun friendly' than others, most of those seem to be in the South or the West. The Red States, if you will. What I feel is that States that are by and large liberal, such as California, Michigan, New York, NJ, are just more inclined to limit personal freedom, and to push a liberal agenda, which usually means gun control.

 

[1wildbill]

The restriction I like in Texas is, "No carry within 1,000 feet of an institution where there is a scheduled execution", (paraphrase). I don't think it is to protect the one to be executed. Yes, we execute people that deserve it in Texas.

If asked for your driver's license by an LEO you are required to show CHL at the same time, but LEOs don't hassle you, and don't want to see your handgun. At least that has been my experience.

A "Castle Law" is in, "The Process".

 

[jrou111]

It's usually not talked about here, cause most people hunt. Probably 75% of people around here grew up properly with guns in the home, and are not afraid of them. But the more people I talk to about RKBA, the more I find out CCW.


What I'd really like to know is what the cost is for freedom to protect yourself in other states. I understand that in other states one has to take classes and pay lots of money for a CCW permit. Getting one here in my county is a 15 min wait and $20.

 

[Boom-stick]

I'm in the UK,

No Carry, ever.

Generally, to hold an FAC (firearms certificate) you need to join a club, go through 6 months of probation and be successfully vetted by the local police.

No Firearms under 24" in length and all barrels must be at least 12" (unless muzzle loaders)

No semi autos bigger that .22 rimfire (.17 rimfire isn't allowed either )

Air rifles over 12ftlb need to licensed

Air pistols over 6ftlbs are completely outlawed and will now be destroyed if found.

Shotguns have to minimum 24" barrel but are easier to obtain, providing pumps and semi's dont have a magazine which holds more than 2 shells, if they do, then they have to go on an FAC with a valid reason for ownership, (home defense and self protection are NOT valid reasons)

Can anyone top this?