Originally posted by MONTANVS IMPAVIDVS:
I have lived in Texas, North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio. I was born in West Virginia.
There have been many great posts in this thread. The number of outstanding states mentioned is a testament to the amazing nation we have created. As for my two cents, I can say there is hardly a more pro-gun population than in West Virginia. There is some conflict over this in the northeast as well-meaning if misguided people from Maryland are funneling across the border to escape the People's Republic. Many West Virginia schools still let off for the first day of deer season and you can still see folks with rifles in the back window of the truck. As a matter of fact, when I was young (not all that long ago), every kid I knew had a rifle or had been hunting. On a recent visit to see my brother, we fired pistols and rifles in his front yard for almost two hours without a single complaint. With that said, and with all respect, there is some growing hostility to people from northern Virginia and Maryland who are coming to the area and bringing their leftist politics with them. It could get ugly as this recent, and witness-confirmed, incident shows:
A West Virginia man was driving along in his Silverado when a BMW yanked in front of him at close range and began swerving. It had Maryland license plates. The BMW felt that the mountaineer was following too closely and slammed his brakes. The mountaineer felt hitting his gas was a good response. He smacked the back of the Beamer. Then the BMW guy became very hostile and did it again. In true mountaineer fashion (god bless 'em, every one, Tiny Tim), the Silverado responded by hitting his gas again. The Beamer operator yanked to the side of the road, got out, started cussing about how he hates these "rednecks" in the state, and approached the vehicle. He then yelled at his wife about how "frustrated" he was (boohoo) and punched the rear window out ON HIS OWN CAR and threatened the mountaineer. The mountaineer promptly called to his wife lovingly, "Honey, fetch the pistol, I'm going to shoot this SOB." The Maryland guy said, "I'll call the cops," to which the Mountaineer responded, "Go ahead. They'll find your body and the broken window and we'll talk about how out of control those poor Maryland folks are." Then the Maryland guy calmed down and went back to the Republic.
Ok, I'm a little prejudiced. But West Virginia is full of truly great people who will give anyone a chance as long as you remain polite. Also, West Virginia switched from Democratic to Republican in the Presidential election for the first time in over 50 years for what many think was solely the gun issue. Montani semper liberi.