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Title says it.
What is the most firearm friendly (truly free state) High cap, suppressor, lower...etc?
Looking at five states. How free are they long term? ID, MT, UT, WY, AZ...
Looking to leave CO. I would stay (and still might) but I think the fight is done.
The SO is saying let's go. An airport is her main concern. I'm a farking hermit. Outside of SLC seems to be the best. Change my mind.
SLC is like denver, infested with liberals / woko hareem group think. What's left of that area, is slowly crawling towards a CA mentality.
Parts of ID are nice. However areas like Boise ( my cousin lives there) have been over run with CA transplants, just like areas of TX. Those folks moved with the business they worked for.
The Prescott regional airport is 20 min from here. 2 flights daily to Den and LA. There's a shuttle service in prescott that goes to Phoenix ,sky harbor. We also have 4 seasons. Most snow was 3 yrs ago, up to 4' in the drifts, mostly gone by day 3.
ID, MT, WY are nice, but the damn winters can be real rough. We looked at UT, back then, as i'm sure even more now. It seemed like the house prices were , on par with todays CO market. Those Mormons were real proud and seemed like they wanted to keep outsiders, out.
Here in AZ like anywhere, house prices are rising, but you get much more bang for the buck. Depending where you decided to move.
The quad cities area has potential and like AZ in general very gun friendly.
BUT... if you're looking for a high paying / CO level for income, you will not find it. . Some places are paying decent wages. Then again with the labor shortages, a lot of companies are offering signing bonuses. From $500 - $10K , after 6 months, to 1 year of employment.
Outside of lax gun laws, in AZ. As in face-face is cash and carry. Same for gun shows, between non ffl transactions. What ever area you choose should factor in the following
As you age. how close, or far would a hospital be? We kept it at 45 min, max, one way. What's the general medical care like?
If you're a veteran, where's the nearest VA facility? The VA in prescott, is 20-30 min from our house.
How far would the drive be for groceries, home improvement items, hardware stores, etc. With the money from the sale of your house in CO can you either pay the total, having no mortgage. Or carry a low monthly payment? With land and not having the neighbors dogs barking, under your bedroom window, all night.
There's pro's and con's anywhere you move. IMO you need to spend a week in the final choices, to get a feel for the area. For us it was a tie between North Central AZ and NW of Boise, close to the state line.
The biggest issue will be. Does your spouse like a high end social life, or more down to earth type? If she's use to the first. Around AZ would be phoenix, or flagstaff. What she wants, will be the deciding factor, where you move to.
I’ve heard Kentucky is a pretty good 2A state.
I'm with Kazoo on this. The mountains of middle Arizona are high on my list for places to retire. You can skew the weather toward your liking by moving slightly north or slightly south. Aside from the Phoenix valley and on south into Tucson, much of the rest of the state really does have some type of 4 seasons. Slew towards or away from the population centers to account for your need for services versus the desire for privacy and a rural atmosphere.
I have a buddy who lives in Show Low. He really likes it there. I'd say house prices are about 1/2 what they are in the Denver area. It's most efficient for him to drive to Phoenix to catch a flight, but he doesn't mind the drive. His wife has been battling cancer for the past 5-7 years and they drive to Phoenix for most of her medical needs.
He routinely reminds me of how much more gun friendly Arizona is as compared to our new Californicated Colorado. It really works out well for him because he likes to hunt, shoot, ride 4 wheelers and side-by-sides, boat, camp, etc. He works only enough to pay for his toys and recreational activities. He's got 2 beautiful teenage girls and almost all the pics I've ever seen of them show them covered head to toe in mud and dirt or elbows deep in fixing one of the aforementioned toys. Seems like a great place (and way) to raise a family.
What about New Mexico?
There's a few nice places in NM. But better check the crime stats, As well as the Santa Fe, Taos, Albaquirky, liberal infestation. NM was on the list. But after spending time down there with friends who lived between las vegas and SF. That idea was no longer valid, for a few reasons. The locals had some good places to eat, but going to SF & Taos. Might of well been in boulder, or denver, dude. Their governor is not gun friendly, at all. Finally lifting the pandemic restrictions, this month.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irving
AZ had minimal restrictions, except for the maricopa cty, coconino, and tucson, areas. Since the OP asked about the 2A friendly status. Gun ranges and stores were, and still are, considered essential business.
No NM has universal background checks, No gun signs carry a 4th degree felony for violation, not just a trespassing charge. It’s bluer than anyone could ever imagine. The metro areas far out number the much bigger rural places populations wise so I doubt any of that will change. I’d give a hard pass to NM and look more east. Oklahoma is where I’d be if I could be.
You have to worry about (federal first), then state, then county, then city Governments.
So choose a county outside of the main city you are targeting..
One factor for us is public lands. There are a few decent states politically east of here, but you've got to be incredibly social and friendly if you want to go outside beyond your fence line.
And I'm not incredibly social and friendly. Already have too much crap to do than to talk about the weather with every stranger. Lol.
So we need public land. On the flip side, as the addicted homeless population surges... where do a ton of them go? Public lands. Starting to become a lose/lose everywhere, lol.
Exactly my issue, or I'd be looking hard at Texas.Quote:
Originally Posted by FoxtArt
Although Tucson is considered one of the most liberal areas of AZ, the 2A is one issue that is still held close to the heart around here. There are certainly some weirdos/bleeding hearts around here, but when compared to Denver Metro, from what I've seen, Tucson seems conservative. That being said, I live in one of the outlying areas where lot's of LE and MIL live, and don't go into the "heart" of Tucson often, so my perception could be skewed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo
One thing to note as far as 2A, specifically concealed carry, while AZ does have constitutional carry, there are some quirks as far as where you can carry and signage, that are a bit stricter than CO CC laws, namely that signs (if placed per the law) DO carry the weight of the law. Hasn't really prohibited me much, but worth noting.
Plenty of public land out here, we're surrounded by it. Unfortunately all forest service roads are now closed, due to extreme fire danger. In 10 minutes i can be on public land, that would take to to jerome, flagstaff, even down to the black canyon from here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Irving
To do a comparison. It's like going from denver to genesee park, or lyons, without going on paved roads.
I am glad that we do not have those guys with smart ass comments like.
"leave.... we don't need you in great state of CO."
types of comments I've seen often here previously.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HBARleatherneck
HBAR, I respect your opinion and know most states are on the brink of falling.
I grew up in TX and there was no public land. That was a reason I moved here, long before firearms rights. I wanted a "free" state to play as I wanted and CO was it, til it wasn't.
Firearms are not the only reason.
Look at Polis' economic agenda for the last two years. CO was in the top five economically viable states, til it wasn't. Now it is 37th.
I have to say I'm very pleasantly surprised by Oklahoma. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I love it here. The gun laws are great, the state is VERY conservative, low population density (especially in the SW part of the state where I live), 2A sanctuary, banned CRT in schools, etc... But very little public lands. Pretty much just like Texas. Only a little over 4% of the land is public. That sucks.
Having said that, I've not found it difficult at all to find a place to shoot. People, including the landowners (around here they're mostly farmers or ranchers), are very easy to approach and exceedingly friendly. A local farmer has a nice range in one of his fields and after just an introduction and a little chat I have a nice place to shoot any time I'd like. I also dropped off 500 rounds of 5.56 for him to try in his first AR when he couldn't find ammo. It's pretty amazing how much good will some small gesture like that will buy.
The weather is decent year round and makes shooting possible for most of the year. Yes, it's hot in the summer...about like the Denver area. It's not really humid in this part of the state...but the eastern half of the state is. The eastern half of the state is also much prettier with lots more trees and small mountains. EVERYONE is gun friendly here, it seems. No permit required, no BGC required if you have a permit, NFA stuff is OK, etc. Open carry is pretty common in the more rural areas around here. The cost of living is very low in the rural areas. All things considered, I enjoy living here more than I've enjoyed anywhere else I've lived in my entire life...and that's a lot of places. Altus is actually convenient to many larger metro areas: 1 hr to Wichita Falls, less than 2 hrs to OKC, 2.5 hrs to Amarillo, 3 hrs to DFW. You can also take commuter flights out of Lawton...an hour away. The roads in this part of the state are wide open...no traffic and congestion anywhere around here. I really enjoy that because I like riding my motorcycle and this is a great area for that.
I really liked northern Idaho, too. Much like Colorado in terms of beauty and scenery, mountains, etc... The people aren't nearly as approachable and friendly. But I think ID ranks 4th in terms of public lands in the country and in terms of a gun friendly, conservative state, I'd say ID and OK are likely the top 2. If you live in the northern part of the state, accessing the airport in Spokane is easy. Even Lewiston is easy and convenient to fly out of but you'll likely have to go through Spokane, Boise or Seattle to get anywhere.
I wanted to move to Wyoming...but the winter weather was the deal killer for me. Aside from that it would be at the top of my list. It's just miserable in the winter for me. I liked AZ, too. For me, though, the cost of living was the deciding factor because I could retire here in OK...I couldn't do that in AZ, mostly because housing was, relatively speaking, far more expensive than OK. There are also only 3.9 million people in OK...the population of AZ is almost double that...but AZ is also about 50% bigger than OK. I wanted fewer people in the state. I lived in AZ in the 80s and loved it, though.
I know exactly what you're going through in terms of looking for a place where you can relocate to. It's a tough choice because there's lots of nice places out there. Colorado is probably one of the prettiest states around and I hated what it became years ago...and it's only getting worse. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to move to a place where you can find happiness and improve your quality of life. I've done it a couple of times and couldn't be happier with my decisions. I hope it works out well for you and your family.