The Best State For Gun Owners

What is the Best State For Gun Owners?

  • Total voters
    116
I'm happy with our gun laws (or lack thereof) here in PA. I think PA is often overlooked as a gun friendly state due to our proximity to the very unfriendly east coast states, and our deep blue crime-riddled Killadelphia, I mean Philadelphia... but the vast majority of the state is extremely gun friendly!

It's very easy to get your carry permit, gun free zone signs don't hold power of law, you can legally carry on colleges and universities, you can even carry in a bar! Basically federal laws are all that apply here, so no post office, K-12 school, court house, etc as is the case in any state. There are a few minor state specific laws, like you can't carry a loaded rifle in your car, and you can't open carry in Philadelphia... nothing that bothers me though. I would hate to have to always be looking for gun free zone signes, and have to unarm if I want to eat somewhere that happens to serve alcohol. My gun would probably spend more time in the car, than on my hip. I know when traveling through Ohio where gun free zone signes actually do hold the power of law, it felt like every other store was posted - very annoying!
 
Interesting site, @hso but the stats are taken from Giffords.

Passages such as this: " There are some gun attachments – such as high-capacity magazines – that are banned at a federal level." make me wonder about the reliability. More data usually helps firm up the numbers, except when the data all comes from the same source.
 
To me the best state for gun owners is one where there's plenty of open space near the home where I can safely fire my gun(s) without bothering anyone or anyone bothering me. I live in Florida which supposedly has laws that favor for gun ownership, conceal carry,etc. In the late 60's to perhaps the mid 80's I could drive 30 minutes outside of the city limits and target practice at local dump sites or in one of the many canal levees. All we needed to do is be at least 1 mile away from the nearest public roadway. These days Florida is super populated and has little if any public land suitable for informal shooting. If you don't have access to private property (and plenty of it) you are restricted to shooting in a range. I enjoy the range but not nearly as much as I enjoy shooting unrestricted. Other states that have huge areas of vacant public lands like Nevada's desert areas, may have stricter gun laws but there's plenty of space for safe legal shooting. I would call one of those states the best for gun owners.
 
IJ1981 said:
But Idaho has Boise, which is on track to becoming another Boulder or Austin .
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Yep. And that's kind of a sore spot with me seeing as how, except for 4 years when Uncle Sam made me live somewhere else, I've lived in Idaho my whole life - 75 years and counting.
To answer the question though is pretty hard for me seeing as how I don't know much about gun laws outside of Idaho's gun laws - which there just aren't many Idaho gun laws (yet).:thumbup:
BTW, my wife still has a few shirt-tail relatives in California, but we won't go visit them because our Idaho "Enhanced" Concealed Carry Licenses are no good there. And seeing as how permits or licenses to carry are not required for legal carry in most parts of Idaho, the only reasons my wife even obtained our concealed carry licenses in the first place are: first, having them makes gun purchases from FFL dealers easier because there are no phone-in background checks in Idaho if you have a concealed carry license, and second, my wife and I have ties with Idaho State University, and Idaho "Enhanced" Concealed Carry Licenses are required for legal carry on campus there. :)
 
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WisBorn said:
Wisconsin! The CCW is simple to obtain. Only $10 for a handgun background check. No waiting waiting period for gun purchases.

I know the question was about the best state for gun owners. Wisconsin’s laws don't hinder me from enjoying my rights.
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Not for long! Red flag laws going through right now and as soon as protosaywitch gets swarn into the Supreme Court we'll be losing more rights.
 
I did not vote - I have no idea which is the best state for gun owners and adherence to the 2nd amendment. I live in Illinois and I know from experience that it is one of the worst and getting worse. Most of the judges in Illinois are in the back pockets of the gun control politicians - some judges in southern Illinois are still what I would consider a judge who rules by the law but they are few and far between.
 
I'm in Maine and we're not too bad, but not as gun-friendly as New Hampshire. Still, I think it's a great place to live, hunt and shoot at ranges or in the back 40.
 
What about the laws governing where you can shoot? Florida has loose carry laws but almost zero public land and it's illegal to discharge a firearm everywhere you go. It was easier to find a place to shoot in Cali, and way easier in Oregon

BLMFTW
 
It's sad to see VT not make the list anymore. AK, AZ, NH, ME and VT were the top 5 at one point...... wth happened? The hunter gatherer, self reliant, gone to the woods and leave your neighbor be and keep your opinion and business to yourself mentality is vanishing along with our 2A rights......

We are at the point where the American flag symbolizes "Hate" and our neighbors don't want us to fly the grand Ole flag, give those same people a say on our 2A rights, forget about it..... it's a ticking clock at this point.
 
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The "best state for gun owners" right now might not be even in the top 45 in another five years.

I moved to Washington in '94 back when it was in the top five states for gun owners; state preemption, no waiting periods, always instant checks, no-paper face to face private sales, cheap shall-issue CPLs (arguably the first in the nation besides maybe Indiana) with zero training required usually delivered on the spot, tons of public land to shoot on, could carry anywhere, including the Capitol, except for bars. Yeah, there was no Class III and no suppressors, but things were great (especially for one who migrated up from CA).

In the past seven years, we've gone to the bottom ten, perhaps the bottom seven or eight.

A few more "mass shootings," two or three more crappy election cycles, your personal "best state for gun owners" might not make the top 40, no matter how "red" things seem now.

I'm gonna hold off on offering an opinion on the best state in terms of RKBA. But, AR, TN, SC, NC, FL are all on our short list of retirement destinations once the wife is ready to stop working...
 
Direct quote from Giffords website (Yes, that Gabbie Giffords) : "The data is clear: states with stronger gun laws have less gun violence. See how your state compares in our annual ranking." Actually the website should state "our propaganda is clear: states with stronger gun laws have less gun violence". Just like IL/Chicago. As many of you know, Gabbie Giffords is the wife of AZ Senator Mark Kelly. And those of you from AZ know all about Mark Kelly. It is a shame that Gabby Giffords was a victim of a senseless shooting in Tucson AZ. Fortunately Giffords has made a remarkable recovery.
 
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TrapK80 said:
Direct quote from Giffords website (Yes, that Gabbie Giffords) : "The data is clear: states with stronger gun laws have less gun violence.
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As we know, this is a bald-faced lie. All one needs to do is look at the Chicago, LA, NYC and Baltimore statistics.

The problem is, no one is calling these folks on their misstatements of "fact," their outright lying, their total manipulating of statistics (i.e., 16, 17, 18 year old gang-bangers lumped in as "children" victims of gun violence).

We are letting the anti-gun factions totally frame the narrative, and it's just not okay.
 
I voted Kansas. Yeah there's better but I like it here.
I did get the concealed permit. Family in Michigan and Virginia. One in Connecticut but I refuse to go there.
Family in Georgia too but I can drive there through Constitutional Carry states :rofl:
 
I'm going to join the "Hey, wait a minute!" crowd. Arkansas should totally be on the list. Besides, we have Nighthawk Custom, Wilson Combat, Daisy, Choate Machine & Tool, etc.! Heck, we're "AR," for crying out loud!
 
I’ve lived in 6 states…NY, NJ, VA, PA, TX, and AZ. Forget the first 2. VA was ok, until the libs f’ed it up. PA was nice. Got my permit easy peasy. Plenty of guns shows, Allentown, FT. Washington, Oaks, and Harrisburg. Gun ranges far and few and expensive. Now you can’t sell a handgun at a gun show. Need to go through FFL. TX was great. Lots of guns show and ranges. When I was in Round Rock, we’d go to Lockhart range just outside of town, shoot and then go eat BBQ in Lockhart. AZ, the best so far. Open carry, tons of public land to shoot, and been to a range in Casa Grande. Eat BBQ after that. Phoenix gun show isn’t bad. 😎👍🏻
 
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