PA, WV, or OH?

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Keep in mind that the panhandle of West Virginia is only 5 miles wide to the North and only 15 miles wide to the south. With a WV hunting license, for example, you'd likely have to drive a ways south for wide open hunting ground. Otherwise, I'd prefer WV to either SE Ohio or SW PA. Central PA would be different... Not much better than there.
 
There is no 30 round magazine restriction in Ohio. There is a law that imposes harsh penelties for those who commit crimes using a magazine over 30 rounds, however. There is some confusion regarding that right now.
 
OHIO!

Only issue is 30 Rd. mag restriction.
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That section does NOT ban any magazines. It merely classifies weapons with the capability to fire >31-round mags as being 'automatic' weapons'. Such weapons are not banned according to my research.

Ohio is quite gun-friendly. Both open and CCW are welcome, and we seem to be moving towards 'right to carry'. There are few places where weapons are banned, and CCW laws are becoming more lenient as time passes.
 
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PA laws are pretty good (at the moment) but the problem is all the liberals from the Philly area. If you move to southwest PA my advice is to live in Washington, Green, or Fayette County. Stay away from Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) because of the high taxes and Democrat death-grip on local government.
 
CJW said:
PA laws are pretty good (at the moment) but the problem is all the liberals from the Philly area.
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I'm assuming you don't live here. But outside of the city it's mostly a 50/50 split in the immediate surrounding counties. Get one more out at it's mostly conservative. But this is political so I will stop.

Make sure to check the hunting regs if you hunt. A lot of people seem to have a problem with PA's restrictions of no Semiautos and no Sunday hunting. These don't bother me but OH's shotgun only regs do. The more central you are to PA the more open the land is to hunt. The largest population of deer is not in these counties. They're in the south east.


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Ohio is great. Unfortunately, the mayor of Columbus is anti gun and pretty much an idiot. However, there's still plenty of land in the country where people are less anti.

You didn't say whether you hunted. That might make the difference if you do.

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Generally the better streams are in Central PA (limestone bedrock). Search on Wild Trout Class A streams in PA and you will find the good streams. Many streams are self supporting now with native fish without stocking. It also depends on the kind of water you prefer... big water, middle size, or small mountain streams full of native brook or brown trout.

I never hunted in the SW part of the state before I moved away. Bear hunting is good and the deer population is coming back. As mentioned earlier, many of the high populations are near urban areas and you probably need to think archery or black powder in these areas.
 
Heck, if you're around KOP, Paoli, Devon, Valley Forge, etc. I think you can get a special deer tag ... for your CAR! :D

Best weapon for deer? Oh, about 5,000 lbs, going 50 mph, in the middle of the day with your horn blowing. You can probably get your limit in one rush hour!
 
Sam1911 said:
A big one for me is that you don't have to leave your gun in your car if you go into a restaurant or bar. Even if you're having a beer or three. That's really nice.
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Just FYI that is the case in Ohio as well since towards the end of 2011:

"Change to Ohio's Liquor Permit Prohibition

Effective Friday, Ohio's liquor permit prohibition, R.C. 2923.121, no longer applies to licensees so long as 1.) they do not consume alcohol in the liquor permit facility, not even a sip, and 2.) they are not already under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The licensee is cautioned, however, that liquor permit facilities are still private property, and private property owners may ban all firearms (or all yellow neckties etc) simply by posting a sign to that effect. The important difference is that a liquor permit facility owner posting a sign is only creating a trespass violation; they are not putting the licensee back under the felony penalties of our liquor permit prohibition."

http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/8003



I'm pretty happy with Ohio's laws overall aside from the requirement to inform an officer during a traffic stop.
 
1.) they do not consume alcohol in the liquor permit facility, not even a sip, and 2.) they are not already under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The licensee is cautioned, however, that liquor permit facilities are still private property, and private property owners may ban all firearms (or all yellow neckties etc) simply by posting a sign to that effect. The important difference is that a liquor permit facility owner posting a sign is only creating a trespass violation
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Well, that's still not quite the way it works in PA, but a lot closer.
 
For clarification, switchblades are not legal in PA. You cannot own knives that project a blade through the use of a spring. For instance, a Benchmade Infidel is illegal as are switchblades.

Gun laws in PA are good. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are the worst parts of the state as they are the liberal regions and the only reason PA always votes Democrat in national elections. The rest of the state is comprised of hard working, gun loving conservatives generally speaking.
 
HARV6 said:
I grew up in Ohio 5 mins from PA, and 25 mins from WV. All three have their quirks, a few dumb laws here and there. But nothing that I would consider leaving or moving to another for.
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That's kind of my thoughts on the issue. I lived in Ohio for 23 years, and had family in both PA and WV during that time (still have family in OH and PA today). Each state has its quirks, none is perfect, but none of them are all that bad for gun owners, either.

I'd venture a guess at saying you'll find better areas to shoot in WV or PA, but maybe that's just based on the areas I know. In OH I couldn't find much better than 100 yard ranges that were open to the public in most places, unless you had a connection with some private land. PA and WV seem to have some less developed areas than Ohio, which helps when looking for areas to shoot.

I never really noticed that issue until I moved out west. Out here, if I drive an hour and a half from here I can shoot to distances beyond the reach of any centerfire rifle. My "local" range is 600 yards. But, I don't think there's really all that much difference between PA, WV, and OH in that regard.

Ohio's concealed carry is a good bit stricter than what we have out here in Colorado, but I don't know how it compares to PA or WV.
 
Since becoming a firearm owner (legal age) I spent a little over ten years in FL and thought their firearm laws were great.

Then I moved to PA the just the other year and I am very pleased.

Comparison (one of many):

Concealed weapons permit initial application.

FL - close to ninety day wait cost was over one hundred dollars (approx).
PA - same day less then twenty minutes cost was around twenty dollars (approx).

Huge climate change though.. good thing I can tolerate the cold a lot better than I can tolerate the heat and humidity.
 
When I contacted Joe Manchin his reply was not that gun friendly..
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He is a US Senator now and has little to nothing to do with WV state laws any more. He was a supporter of gun rights when he was the Governor. Sadly, now he has betrayed us he may impact he Federal gun laws affecting all three states. I strongly suspect his term in congress will end when WV votes in the next election. They love to vote for Democrats but they love their guns even more.
 
Uncle Richard's earlier post is incorrect. In WV, a CCW permit does NOT take the place of the NICS check just yet. I bought a pistol a month or so ago from my LGS and was told that would not happen until all counties in the state went to a standardized permit. Mine is plastic like a credit card and has my photo on it. In other counties, the photo is optional. In yet others, the permit is still paper. I don't really understand why that's a problem, since the requirements for a permit are the same everywhere.

Of the three states mentioned, I wouldn't live in any of them but WV. PA has a commonwealth form of government, and their tax laws are really weird. Same for their liquor laws. And Ohio is just a boring stretch of I-70 on the way to somewhere else.
 
But to be fair, taxes in WV are pretty ridiculous too. When I lived in Minnesota I claimed married and and one and I got about 1200 bucks a year income tax refund. Here I claim single and zero (I'm still married though) and still pay in an extra 35 bucks a paycheck to make sure I don't get penalized for underpaying. Add your property taxes, which included hundreds of dollars for your vehicles, including ATVs, motorcycles, your dog, etc......and the tax rate here is just sickening. If you move in to the state you will have to pay a nice sum ($1400 in my case) to register your cars here.
 
Yes PA has terribly archaic liquor laws, and a dizzying Commonwealth style tax system.

But the firearms laws are great, and the amount of private non-for-profit gun clubs here make it my adopted home. I belong to a 600 & a 1,000 yard rifle range in addition to my local little handgun club.
 
The liquor laws are not archaic. I don't need to be able to buy beer at the supermarket. And I don't need to buy beer and liquor at one store. Having beer distributors with a large selection instead of offerings from only the big breweries, like you get at Walmart in other states, is nice. Having to make a separate stop to purchase alcohol stops a lot of impulse purchases. Especially when it comes to wine & spirits. I don't see a need to be able to purchase it on Sundays. You can go one day a week without being able to buy it.

It's only the people from out of state that complain about the liquor laws. Which unfortunately are changing. Once there is no volume limits at supermarkets, like there are now which is a 12 pack. You will see a lot of the mom and pop distributors go out of business. All for the sake of convenience. Being able to sell wine & spirits as a private business should drive costs down. Even though the state leverages it's buying power our prices are higher than NJ and DE. But I still see no need to have it at the grocery store. I guess it's because I was born and raised here but I prefer it the way it is compared to other states.

I also don't see what the deal is about the taxes. Federal/State and a 1% local tax comes out of my check. State sales tax is 6% except for in Philly and Pittsburgh which are slightly higher. There are school and property taxes if you own a home. It's not hard to understand the tax system, even if you run a business.


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You may like them, but they are still archaic.

Adjective
Very old or old-fashioned.
(of a word or a style of language) No longer in everyday use but sometimes used to impart an old-fashioned flavor.
Synonyms
obsolete - antiquated - old - ancient - out-of-date
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But let's not get off on alcohol rights (or the tax issues) -- that's not THR's mission.
 
I guess it doesn't matter since me and my fiance will get ccw's anyway, but do any of the states allow car carry without a permit? I'm used to Missouri where you anybody over 21 can car carry.

Also, thanks for pointing out that OH and PA don't take each others permits, which would be terrible as it is common for me to hit all three states in one day. But it looks like a WV permit would be good in the whole area.
 
A PA residency LTC with an easy-to-get Utah mail order permit will get you Ohio. That's what I use when I go into Ohio.


Move to Ohio, and you have to undergo their process first

Move into PA, and you go through a very simple process to get our state's LTC for PA, and an easy-to-get - but not without some classroom and fingerprints - Utah mail-order permit to travel into Ohio.

PA is an easy to get LTC state, easy meaning if you're a law-abiding citizen. Ohio and West Virginia make you jump through a state class, which is not hard but just burdensome.
 
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