Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Hi all. I'm an old guy...60 years old...who has been shooting for about 20 years now in Idaho and Oregon. I was a late bloomer but it would be fair to say that I am now something of a "gun nut" in that I simply love to own and shoot quality firearms.

But life has changed a little bit. Our first grandchild was born at the end of October and what do new grandparents do when that happens but think about moving to be closer to that new little person. He is pretty much irresistible to his grandmother and to me. So...we are considering moving to be closer to our kids in Annapolis, Maryland.

However, when I checked in with the folks on the Maryland Shooters forum I had about fifty people say "don't move to Maryland!!!" and not a single one encourage me to do so. Many of them suggested Virginia or Pennsylvania or even Delaware. I shoot pistols (lots of NRA bullseye and a little bit of IDPA but lots of self-defense "practice" on my own). I shoot a lot of sporting clays and five stand. And I own a number of rifles and am just learning to shoot them. In particularly I would love to learn some precision longer range rifle shooting...500 yards? 1000 yards?

So I would love to get a basic understanding of the limitations on firearm ownership and use in Virginia. But even more importantly, I would like to get some input on what part of the state might have the magic trifecta...reasonably close (i.e. at least within a couple of hours) to my grandson in Annapolis, MD (I'm already dreaming of working with him to build an AR-15), close to good shooting opportunities and, critical right now, would be affordable home ownership or at least rent for the short term. Even better would be enough land to be able to shoot on my own property.

I am a financial advisor so there have to be enough people around that I could make a living...

So if anyone can shed some light for me on all of those questions, I would really appreciate it. I apologize if I don't know or follow all the correct protocols but if anyone would like to respond to my personal e-mail address, I would love to have some "conversations" there. It is "boisepaw@gmail.com".

Or if I need to start a new thread to ask those questions more generally, perhaps someone can help me figure out how to do that.

Thanks in advance!

I'd say Virginia would be the way to go as far as gun rights are concerned. I think we're quite a bit more lax than Pennsylvania or Delaware. I'm personally not a fan of northern Va but maybe some folks up there can point out some good spots for you.

Welcome to VGOF!

Let me also say that you should NOT move to Maryland. Hopefully, you can find a place here in Virgina that suits your needs.

I'm strictly shooting from the hip, here, but in addition to endorsing the proposition that you should not move to Maryland, I'll hazard a blind guess:

Maybe somewhere within 50-75 miles of Harrisonburg? Harrisonburg is a pretty good community that is not too urban and there is some wealth there; and it is only 170 miles from Annapolis. It is somewhat closer than that to Charlottesville and Richmond where there's LOADS of money, and perhaps within striking distance of some of that abundant affluence that has fled DC and its immediate environs for the "horse country" that lies generally north of Harrisonburg but south of I-66. Alternatively, you could look at someplace like Culpepper or somewhere on the Northern Neck.

I live in northern VA, which is the closest part of the state to Annapolis. I live about an hour away from Annapolis. Northern VA is a fairly dense suburb of DC, and is overall on the liberal anti-gun side. However, there are a lot of military folks around here which balances things out to some degree. VA has some reasonable gun laws, and what makes northern VA tolerable is that the state has strong pre-emption laws, which generally ban localities from passing their own laws that are at odds with the state. If that were not the case, northern VA would be a terrible place to live because the anti-gun politicians would pass all kinds of silly laws, but as it is, I (and northern VA) are protected from the local politicians by the state-wide laws.

VA is FAR better than MD when it comes to gun laws. MD is one of the worst states for gun freedoms, and is similar to states like CA, NJ, MA, and NY. From what I've heard, PA is a pretty gun-friendly state, but I've never lived there and can't really speak to it.

There are a few ranges in northern VA. NRA headquarters is located in Fairfax County (where I live), and has a nice indoor range. There are various other outdoor ranges; I would not say that there are a large amount of ranges, but you should be able to find something that suits you. I'm not sure about long-range rifle ranges since that's not my thing, but I've heard talk of various ranges around the area that might have what you need.

As I said, northern VA a fairly dense suburb of DC, but if you travel 25-40 miles away, you can find yourself in some countryside pretty easily. But it is not a cheap place to live, and in fact, Fairfax, Arlington, Loudon, and Alexandria counties often show up on the lists of the most expensive places to live in the country, or have the highest incomes. In general, the further away you live from DC, the cheaper it is, until you hit the medium sized cities in the state, such as Fredericksburg, Richmond, Charlottesville, and even further to the SE, the Norfolk and Hampton Roads area. If you go west of northern VA, you can get into some nice country side by Winchester, Harrisonburg, or other cities along I-81, or in the Shenedoah Valley. Winchester is a medium-size city, with plenty of countryside around it, and is probably about 2 hours from Annapolis. Harrisonburg is further away, (maybe 3 hours from Annapolis), might be another choice. The northern neck of VA (look to the east of I-95 and Fredericksburg, and to the south of the Rappahanock River) might be another choice because it's fairly rural, and you could take 301 into MD and get to Annapolis relatively quickly. Those areas might be affordable for you.

Okay... so, 17 years ago I was looking to move to the DCA also. I was going to move to Maryland, but found that the gun laws suck, their laws in general are very Left leaning, and it seemed the cost of living was much higher compared to a like neighborhood in VA, outside the Capital Beltway.

After that, I looked at PA and VA. I opted for VA because the area I moved to (Prince William County in North Va) is closer to DC than some of the burbs in Southern PA. Their laws are very common. I think VA has better gun laws too.

If you want to live close to the family so its not an all-day round trip drive, be in an area wear money is flush, and be were your rights are fairly well protected, NoVa is your best option. If you don't mind driving 4 hours round trip to see family, there is also Culpeper, Fauquier, Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George, etc.

In VA, you can open carry, conceal carry, own silencers/suppressors and any firearm with only 3 restrictions that I know of... 2 automatic shotguns are flat-out illegal and machine guns have to be registered.

There are a ton of ranges in and around NoVa, including a 1,000 yard for military members on Quantico and a civilian range in nearby West Virginia.

But as many have said, northern part of the state is really Left leaning. On the other side, Manassas was once voted the most livable community in America.

Welcome Aboard ! You do have a lot of tough decisions to make . I have a friend that had to move to Maryland for his job ..... Mike really had no choice if he wanted to stay employed . He has 10 months left on his contract and is really counting down the days. His VA home is 10 miles S of Petersburg 5 miles W of 95 . Mike has 23 acres and enjoys his privacy and ability to shoot on his own property. Complete opposite of living in Maryland. He comes "Home" at least once a month...Just for some piece of mind !!!