Virginia is GREAT!. I live in Sterling, VA and have for the last 3.5 years. Take a safety course and go to the court house to get the paper work. Fill it out (takes about 10 minutes max, go to the Sheriffs office and hand them a form, show them ID, pay them a fee and head home. In a week or two you'll get your permit in the mail. They ask that you laminate it.
Virginia is also an open carry state. Meaning you may carry a gun without a permit as long as it is not concealed. I am very uncomfortable with open carry, I have nothing against it, but since it is so easy to get a permit I like to carry my gun concealed. As far as I am concerned, the less folks who know I am armed the better.
One word of caution though. When I first got here in Sterling, this was a great community. It had a small town feel to it even though it is actually pretty big. It has seen tremendous growth over the recent years and it is very crowded now. When a bunch of people live in one place bad stuff is going to happen. 3 years ago the worst you read about in the paper was some kids racing or some such. Now you read about drive by shootings. You see very dangerous looking groups of young men hanging around, it puts me in condition orange when I see the way they looking at me and my kids when we go for walks. Sterling is still a great place to live, but I fear that in 10 more years we are going to have a full blown gang problem. My point here is please be careful where you choose to live. This is still a great place to live, but some extra time and caution are worth your effort. Really though, I guess that is sound advice for living anywhere.
The law enforcement here are good people. All of them I have met are quick to assist you and polite. They respond quickly and are call everyone Sir or Maam. I hope you get the job and I hope you like it here.
Good gunshops are: Loudoun Guns (not great prices but very nice guns), Blue Ridge Arsenal (not great prices but a pretty good inventory and an indoor 25 yard range for pistols, shotguns ((no slugs)) and rimfires) And the NRA range - they sell ammo there at the range and it is a pretty slick 50 yard indoor range, You can shoot whatever you want up to .458. No birdshoot shotgun rounds here though, slugs only. They occasionally have tactical courses here for very reasonable prices as well as having monthly IDPA shoots. Also, for training in your area
http://www.tactical-advantage.com I have not attended, but Duke Hansen, a poster here, is involved with the school and speaks very highly of it. He has trained at Thunder Ranch and Blackwater Training Center, so if he says its good I believe you can trust him. He is also an FFL dealer, so once you get here you may want to drop him a line. His inventory is very limited but you will not meet a finer or more honorable man. Good luck, if you have other questions about Virginia that I can assist you with please feel free to e-mail me or send me a private message and I will be happy to assist you however I can.
Jake