Migration to gun-friendly states?

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Since I am applying for a CHP (Concealed Handgun Permit) in NC, I have been reading up on the law regarding not only concealed carry but open carry, too. The vagueness of the law in NC has been covered in THR before so I won't belabor the point further, but I will say that these statutes will get your head spinning fast. I am convinced that the open carry statue regarding "Going Armed to the Terror of the People" in NC only exists to make lawyers rich.

I do like living in NC, but I also like other parts of the country, too. I am now seriously contemplating moving the family to Utah or Vermont to live in a gun-permissive society. My family and I love to ski, so I am sure that this wouldn't be a hardship move... :)

I wonder if there are any demographic studies indicating 2nd Amendment advocates moving to gun-friendly states in any significant number. Any THR's out there with knowledge of this? Just curious, but it could be an interesting selling point for some states and municipalities.
 
Gun friendly states

I used to live in southern UT. This is as gun friendly as it gets. Schools close for hunting season. almost everyone owns a gun. I carried, without permit, for the 5 years I lived there.

Hunting is by lottery,however I drew a tag every year. My son still lives there. Both he and his wife have drawn a tag almost every year for the past 15 years. He also carries, with out permit, in his truck. Doesn't seem to be a big deal if stopped by LE as long as you let them know in advance that you have a weapon in the vehicle.
 
True, no skiing in KY, but WVA is close, and has a lot of it...

Deer season starts in Sept, instead of October, too!
 
Idaho.

And when you're not hunting and skiing, you can be river rafting and kayaking on the best white water rivers in the world.

Open carry legal and Shall Issue for CCW.

L.W.
 
If you want to ski, VT has plenty of snow for you.

For me it is the opposite. I absolutely hate the snow and hate being cold. I was born in Houston and I intend to move back to Texas soon. I am just having trouble finding a job before I move. I might just have to move and then try for a job. I am not moving solely because of gun rights issues, but a long list of things. Moving like this is not as easy as you would think, especially across the country.
 
I agree with Leanwolf. I lived very close to Idaho for a few years, and it's one of the most beautiful states, as well as one of the most gun-friendly. Montana too.
 
Thanks, guys! I *love* Montana and Idaho, too...the mountains and skiing are outstanding. I used to move all of the time (10 years of being in the military, plus I grew up the son of a Marine). My job is telecommuting based so I can work from just about anywhere. My principal reason for wanting to move is to live freely in a state that doesn't trample on gun rights nor treat the Second Amendment as an optional "privilege". The skiing would help me sell the idea of relocating to my family.

I wonder how many others have moved to Idaho, Montana, Utah, Kentucky, Vermont, etc. due to the guns rights there? If I were governor of any of these states, I would be promoting the hell out of this as a "Constitutionally Correct" place to live.
 
I do like living in NC, but I also like other parts of the country, too. I am now seriously contemplating moving the family to Utah or Vermont to live in a gun-permissive society. My family and I love to ski, so I am sure that this wouldn't be a hardship move...
Click to expand...
Go to Arizona, and ski in Flagstaff.
 
Hot Springs, Arkansas. You can't throw a rock without hitting a lake here, and Arkansas is a pro-2A state (regardless of being Clinton's home state, he did not even carry Arkansas in his 2nd election)
 
I just looked up Iowa, which I don't consider the most gun friendly state (especially when it comes to CHP). According to the brady campaign, Iowa only scored 16 out of 100 points. That surprised me. Although we still ranked "t-17" which I'm assuming that means we're 17th from the top. In my mind that just goes to show that they are way off base in their demands.
 
Check out report ranking all 50 states on Freedoms

If anyone is thinking of relocating (especially to enjoy more liberty), check out George Mason University's report ranking the 50 states based on level of freedom (economic, and personal). Gun rights is part of it, along with other things that impact freedom (i.e. size of government, level of taxes, and other regulations).

http://www.mercatus.org/uploadedFiles/Mercatus/Publications/Freedom in the 50 States.pdf

No surprise-- NY is the worst on freedom. NH is first (best), closely followed by Colorado and South Dakota.

There is even a web site that you can put in which attributes are most important to you (such as gun laws), and it creates your own custom ranking. Very cool!

Here's a quote from their intro:

"We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South
Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low
taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation and paternalism.
New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode
Island, California, and Maryland. On personal freedom alone, Alaska is the clear winner,
while Maryland brings up the rear. As for freedom in the different regions of the
country, the Mountain and West North Central regions are the freest overall while the
Middle Atlantic lags far behind on both economic and personal freedom.

"Regression analysis demonstrates that states enjoying more economic and personal freedom tend
to attract substantially higher rates of internal net migration. The data used to create the rankings are publicly available online at www.statepolicyindex.com, and we invite others to adopt their own weights to see how the overall
state freedom rankings change."

Rontherunner
 
If I were governor of any of these states, I would be promoting the hell out of this as a "Constitutionally Correct" place to live.

We have enough people in our western states. The ones that come here on their own are OK, but we don't need promotion. Look what happened to Oregon and Washington when the Californians moved there. They loved everything about those states and couldn't wait to make it just like California.
 
"I am now seriously contemplating moving the family to Utah or Vermont to live in a gun-permissive society." I can see Utah being gun friendly but Vermont being the second most liberal state behind Mass surprises me that they are so gun tolerant. How is that explained cause it has always made me wonder?
 
I'd rather be in NH than in VT. VT is quite liberal in lots of ways. Their "no CCW permit required" does seem kind of inconsistent with their liberal ways.
 
Vermont is very liberal in most ways, but they really embrace their yankee stubborness when it comes to guns. Their gun laws are shockingly lax. Here is the summary:

Child Access Prevention Law? No.
Juvenile Possession Law? Yes.
Juvenile Sale/Transfer Law? Yes.

State Requirements
Rifles and Shotguns
•Permit to purchase rifles and shotguns? No.
•Registration of rifles and shotguns? No.
•Licensing of owners of rifles and shotguns? No.
•Permit to carry rifles and shotguns? No.

Handguns
•Permit to purchase handgun? No.
•Registration of handguns? No.
•Licensing of owners of handguns? No.
•Permit to carry handguns? No.

Other Requirements
•Is there a State waiting period? No.
•Is there a FBI *NICS check for firearm transactions? No. State system.
•Permit to carry a concealed weapon required? No.
•Record of sale: Yes.

The problem with the Western Mountain states is that they're attracting the *wrong* kind of people. If you had more gun-lovers there, the liberal nut-cases would likely go elsewhere. "Ewwwww, too icky with all those guns....ewwwww!" ;)
 
We have enough people in our western states. The ones that come here on their own are OK, but we don't need promotion. Look what happened to Oregon and Washington when the Californians moved there. They loved everything about those states and couldn't wait to make it just like California.
Click to expand...

Plus one, we are full. No need to come here, with global warming it doesn't even snow here any more. Almost tropical without a beach, not a one in sight.
 
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Hey wyohome, no kidding on your comment. Same to you to Mt Shooter. I personally saw what the California and west coast "refugees" did to northern and northwestern Colorado up close. I can't freaking believe that Colorado was included in the top 3 "freest" places to live!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me? I travel to and through various parts of Colorado for business regularly. While it's certainly NOT at the bottom, I sure don't see it being at the top either. You can flame me all you want, but it's slowly becoming a mini Southern California without sunny beaches, surfboards, and bikini's. Thanks but no thanks, I'll pass. Give me brutal winters, lots of snow and never ending wind. It keeps the "pansies" away. :evil:

I spent a few years In South Dakota before settling in Wyoming, and it certainly deserves a Top-3 finish, no doubt. They drug me away kicking and screaming when the time came to uproot my family once again.
 
Unfortunately California expatriates are also altering Idaho too. Not yet to the extent they have Oregon and Washington but they're still coming in droves. A shame to see for those who remember when.
 
Another +1 for Idaho.

I live just southwest of Boise. We're 25 minutes to the airport, 20 minutes to Costco, 25 minutes to downtown, and 15 minutes from the mall. Meridian and Kuna, both just west of Boise, have two of the best school districts in the state. Meridian also has a technical/vocational high school for students that are high-tech oriented (they teach Network +, A +, Security +, HTML editing, etc.).

Sun Valley, Donnelly, and Cascade are all day trip drives for skiing in the winter, and Lake Cascade has fishing in the summer. Cascade is also home to the Ashley Inn, for those times where you bought too many guns and need to "apologize" to the missus.

The closest hot springs are maybe an hour away (east of Horseshoe Bend, north of Boise) and the entire area has hot springs you can visit or camp at.

There are huge areas of BLM land for shooting and riding 4 wheelers (either towards Mountain Home, south of Boise, or Parma) including a 600 yard shooting range at Parma (Parma Rod and Gun Club, 45 mins from Boise). Impact Guns in Boise also has an indoor range for those that don't like cold/bad weather.

Camping at Lucky Peak is an hour away just northeast of Boise, or for those that want a more "rural" trip Warm Lake is about 4 hours from Boise (east of Cascade in the Boise National Forest and the Frank Church Wilderness Area).

There is fishing in the numerous bodies of water, from crappie to bass to trout to salmon. You can even day trip to Oregon for sturgeon fishing (less rules on fishing sturgeon in Oregon than in Idaho).

The cost of owning a home has become realistic again since we've finally gotten rid of the inflated prices that were a result of the housing boom and the influx of relocating Californians. My wife and I just bought our first NEW home after it fell a little over 25% in price, which saved us almost 60 grand.

We've got Roaring Springs water park and right next to it is Wahooz Family Fun Center (formerly "Boondocks") which has mini-golf, 2 go-kart tracks, and video games.

Of course, the open carry and shall issue laws are some of the best in the country. The town of Green Leaf, ID, was even featured on The Tonight Show due to it's town law expressly stating that all able bodied adults that legally can own firearms should do so, as long as it's within their financial means.

Towns with laws that state you should own guns .......

/drool



Kris
 
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Indiana if you want to keep a low profile. Very gun friendly here and there is no Californiafication going to happen here! Or for that matter Illiniosification!

Skiing, not so much, hunting...probably pretty darn good by a lot of standards. Lots of deer, turkey, upland game, waterfowl, etc.

Good legal environment, low housing costs, resonable taxes everywhere but Marion and Lake counties (Indianapolis and Gary).
 
Thanks, Hoosier...my aunt and uncle live there and it is a very cool state. Glad to hear that Indiana hasn't had the California issue that is plaguing the Western/Mountain states. Hopefully, it will stay that way!
 
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