Tennessee members...

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stevek

stevek

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My wife and I are planning our escape from the PRNJ and are looking at some places in TN. How are the gunlaws, is it a fairly conservative state, and are there parts of the state that are less than optimal to settle in? We are looking for a real small town/rural atmosphere within commuting distance to a hospital or VA hospital. Any other ideas on locations are welcome, but it must be shall issue CCW, with little likelihood that would change. We were thinking about PA, but there are too many wacky gun bills constantly making their way through committees over there I think...Any help or guidance will be much appreciated :)
 
TN is a shall issue state. You need to take an 8 hour class, go to the DMV, pay the fee and you get your license in a few weeks.

I've lived in the Memphis area for a long time, and have been in a lot of the small towns around here either hunting or fishing at one time or another.

You don't want to live IN the city of Memphis. It's a festering crime scene.

Most of the small towns outside the city are just good ole small towns. They have a town square, limited economic activity. Great people. Lots of older folks as the younger generations leave town for more opportunity elsewhere.

You might want to look at Oxford Mississippi also. It's about 1.5 hours south of Memphis...great place. MS is also a shall issue state. There you just apply and pay the fee. It took about 3 months to get when I lived there.

If I had to point you to one place around here it would be Oxford MS. You could commute to the VA hosptial in Memphis if you had to. Oxford is a college town that has been catering to Retirees over the last 10 years. They have the prettiest town square in the region, a very active economy, plenty of things to do. It really is a beautiful place.

Also consider the heat, the humidity and the mosquitos. We have all three in abundance.
 
I would recommend (North East Tn) Bluntville or Bluff City close to three mid size towns , Bristol, Kingsport, and Johnson City ( The VA hosp is in Johnson City) and about an hour from Knoxville ( The Home Of the VOLs ) :)
 
North or south of Nashville are fine. If you have small children that require good schooling, I would look south, around Franklin. Northside, Sumner (my home) is nice and growing.
 
I grew up in Michigan, lived in NY for a year, and moved here to TN around 13 years ago. TN is a great place to live and I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

Like Steelharp mentioned, anywhere north or south of Nashville, east and west too for that matter, have great places to live. Their are several thriving areas here and the cost of living is very acceptable. If you like to frequent gun shows, there are several that take place in the Nashville area all year long as well.

Check these cities/towns out on a real estate finder, or go to www.realtracs.com and check homes out there.

North - Pleasant View, White House, Hendersonville

South - Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Columbia

East - Mt. Juliet, Lebanon

West - Bellevue, Kingston Springs

If you really want to see some beautiful country then look at areas in NE TN like mentioned further up in the post. That's God's country around there!
 
TN is very different depending upon whether you live in the eastern, middle or western part of the state.

Weather is different east to west as we have mountain, Tn Valley, plateau and nearly midwest weather.

Cities like Memphis are not ideal locations for folks wanting to avoid large city and somewhat antigun politics. Outside of Memphis near Jackson would be fine. Elsewhere in TN gun politics are markedly pro-2A. As you've been told, TN is "shall issue" and it's simple to get a permit. Knoxville is rumored to have more carry permits per capita that any other city of it's size in the country.

Look for VA facilities in TN to guide you.

I just came from a gunshow that was well attended. Nashville has plenty of them as does Chattanooga.
 
Yeah, you want to be close to med stuff, seriously consider Johnson City. In addition to the VA hospital, there's several hospitals including a teaching hospital lined up with the medical college at ETSU, and we should have a pharmacy school starting up as well. JC is pretty much the nexus of medicine in this neck of the woods from what I can tell.

JC has grown a lot in the last generation - you could still find a relatively sedate neighborhood in town, or if you prefer there's lots of smaller towns around to commute from. Provided no one wrecks on the road, commutes are fairly easy.

This is hill country, just outside the area where the Appalachians really get started. Generally speaking, it's also a particularly conservative part of the state.

You won't have any problem with gun stuff. Just make it plain you ain't no Yankee in your heart, and you'll do fine. :)
 
I have a lead on a small house and 6.5 acres riverfront in NE Tennessee. End of the (private) road, so no through traffic. No adjacent neighbors to worry about (as long as you don't throw your beer bottles out the window onto my property on your way home, and don't mind the sound of gunfire from time to time). Reasonable price. 1 minute walk from your front door to a pistol range.

Just outside Kingsport, to the west, so roughly 15 minutes to town center, including the hospital, and 45 minutes to the VA hospital in Johnson City.
Deer. Turkey. Fox.
PM me if interested...
 
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By the way, by "pistol range" I mean I have a nice little glen there where you are welcome to shoot. No one else shoots there.
I'm happy to second all the positive comments about the area in general, too.
 
Another vote for the Johnson City area.
I moved up here from FL almost 2yrs ago and absolutely love it!

I live just outside of Erwin and commute to JC for work. Takes just under 30min at rush hour. Traveling the same distance back home in FL would of taken a least an hour.
 
I would suggest you look from about 50 west of Nashville all the way to the Virginia state line (going east). All good country. Obviously, you are better off near the larger cities for jobs and hospitals.
 
I would recommend you move somewhere else..... nuff Yankees around here and too many damn yankees (ones who stay) too

:neener: just kidding

East TN is great. Lots of rural areas still, even near Knoxville. Tri-Cities can be way rural to small town to medium city depending where you go. if you want land to shoot on you should have little trouble finding something with a nice ridge to use as a backstop.

And everyone I know here owns guns, I shoot two or three times a week by my house and it does not seem to be a problem.

+! for a THR East TN shoot.
 
Well, I don't actually live in TN, but I do live about 3 miles from the boarder. The Chattanooga area seems to be sorely overlooked in this thread. Chattanooga itself is pretty darned conservative for a city of its size. It has one of the best hospitals in the state (Erlanger) and there are plenty of small towns within commuting distance. Besides, the mountains make for a much better landscape than the flatlands past the Cumberland Plateau. :)
 
I big +1 for Chattanooga, which bills itself as "America's Scenic City," and understandably so.

I've traveled all over the United States and never found a city with Chattanooga's "small-town manners, big-town nightlife and weekend life" charm. Add to that the fact that it is nestled between the Appalachian Mountains and Cumberland Plateau, and you have some absolutely beautiful scenery.

Chattanooga is also an interesting mish-mash of conservative and progressive. It's a hard thing to describe unless you visit. Overall, I would describe this part of the state as very pro-gun. I've even open-carried in downtown Chattanooga (around—but not in—such attractions as The Tennessee Aquarium and IMAX 3D Theatre) and never had a problem. Crime in Chattanooga doesn't seem to be too big a problem (I live in a suburb where I really don't need to lock my doors), though there are definitely parts of the city that aren't as safe as others.

Chattanooga is also very easy to get to. It sits where I-75, I-24, and I-59 all come together. Atlanta is a 1.5 hour drive. Knoxville is 1 hour, Nashville and Birmingham about 2 hours.

The only major issues I have with Tennessee's carry laws is that we can't carry in parks or restaurants that serve alcohol. The parks clause is in the process of being changed in the state legislature as I write this. Hopefully the restaurant prohibition will follow.

On the other hand, Tennessee does have a "safe harbor" provision on the books, which basically states that if you use a firearm to justifiably defend yourself from a deadly threat, you can't be prosecuted by the state even if you had a gun in an off-limits area (park, bar, school, etc.). Take from that what you will.

I highly recommend Tennessee to anyone who wants to live in a Free State. Give the eastern parts of the state a serious look. In my neck of the woods, we're solid Red. The state gets Bluer as you go west. Plus, eastern Tennessee is where all the beauty is (sorry all you Memphis dwellers, but it's true!). ;)
 
I live in Rutherford county in Middle TN. Murfreesbro has a LARGE VA hospital, is about 30+ miles form NashVegas and has some of the best schools in the state. There are smaller communities around Rutherford county (and even some areas in Rutherford county) that still have that "rural" feel. Definately a place to look at
 
Thanks for all the replies so far! My wife and I will have to fly down for a weekend/week to see some of the suggested areas. We are looking for small town charm/manners within commuting distance to a hospital. I am a RN who has been specializing in Spinal Cord Injury & research for the last 10 years, and want to continue with that patient population. An hour or two drive to a major city would be fine with us...Keep the replies coming! :D
 
Well I have to chime in. If you come to Tn, need to look at Athens. It's halfway between Chatanooga and Knoxville, kinda quite sleepy town not too large and most of the people are real frendly.:D
 
If you are interested in SouthEast TN (near Johnson City) you might consider the Greeneville or Jonesboro area. Nice small towns but close enough to the bigger cities and interstates.
 
Tennessee

Hi, I am moving from Florida to Eastern Tennessee. I bought a house in the town of Newport 2 years ago. I have found Tennessee to be one of the few states that the populace really understands the word FREEDOM. I shoot behind my home, but not enough to annoy the neighbors. There is enough rural country that shooting or carrying is a way of life.
The people that I've run into across the state have been polite and friendly. In my opinion, I've found Heaven on Earth.
 
I have lived in TN for my life thus far (27 years). Nashville, then Knoxville, now Johnson City. Any of them are good places. The only down side to the Johnson City/ Tri-Cities area is a smaller job market. It can take a bit to find a job up here (at least for a 20 something)
 
I moved to Signal Mountain just outside Chattanooga 6 years ago and have to say Eastern TN is the best place to live no state income tax, four seasons but none extreme and no natural disasters. That can't be said for all the state which is really 3 distinct parts Eastern, middle and west. The west around Memphis is very flat and blue, the middle around Nashville is rolling hills and a mix of red and blue the eastern is mountains and red!! I think eastern TN is the best place to live good gun laws and great people as long as you don't want to change things and have it like it was up north.
 
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