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Where in the US to live?

4K views 35 replies 26 participants last post by  progunner1957 
#1 ·
Well, since liberal McGreedy just won the gubernatorial race for NJ, I expect our already socialist state to get even worse.
I'm seriously considering moving elsewhere in the future. The only reasons I stick around NJ is because all my friends are here, along with the fact that there are quite a few IT jobs here, and it's close to NYC. Yes, I'm still in my 20's, so I need to have quick access to a major city for my nightlife/weekend enjoyment at times.
So, what are some great places to live? I'd like a place that is relatively pro-gun, where I can actually freely enjoy my hobby. Also, I'd like a place that's close to a major city that has a nice mix of IT companies, nightlife, restaurants, etc. Basically, a place that has "something for everyone", without the liberal politics.
 
#3 ·
Do NOT move to NY, CT, MA or RI. While those states have fertile IT communities and lots of urban areas for your nightlife, they suck under a Second Amendment analysis.

California is contra-indicated for a number of obvious reasons.
 
#6 ·
I've been looking at the Seattle area. Washington has great gun laws. My
business travels there gave me the impression that it is a good area for
families (I've got a 2 year old and working on another). It's urban enough for
my profession (programmer) and my personal taste (We like food, film, art,
etc).

I have in-laws in Kentucky. The Lexington/Louisville area is really
nice. Seriously, I'm a 5th generation San Franciscan and enjoy my yearly
visits to Lexington. Kentucky has awesome gun laws, good schools, plenty of
culture, and outdoor activity.

See http://www.ccrkba.org/pub/rkba/press-re ... study.html for a slightly
out of date look at CCW laws around the country.

I don't know what kind of work you do, but I can warn you that this is a
particularly tough time to look for a job out of your current area. Many
companies are not even interviewing over the phone (at least in the IT
field). Our family is desperately trying to escape CA and the job search is
going... slowly.
 
#8 ·
Hey Kenneth,
I do software QA Testing. Yep, the job market does suck now, so I'll probably be in NJ for a while.
I figure, I'll be getting married in a few years. After that, assuming the market improves, I will be ready to seek out new territory. Just planning ahead. Seattle seems to be very promising, as far as shooting, and overall lifestyle goes.
 
G
#9 ·
If you're looking for gun friendly, Atlanta is hard to beat. Carry permits are no problem, there are numerous ranges and gun shows are frequent. When I lived there, I attached a holster to my car seat with velcro so that my handgun was right next to my hand. Bet you can't do that in many states.
I can't tell you what the job market looks like there at the moment, but it's usually strong.
 
#12 ·
Well, the market is pretty bad everywhere. Best bet is to:

1. Get your resume up on your website, and submit that site to the big search engines.

2. Submit your resume to the job sites (dice.com, etc).

3. Maybe track down a good headhunter and get them to hook you up with some positions.


I mostly write tools and scripts for automated performance testing of n-tier client/server applications.
 
#14 ·
Hey Ken,

VA is gun friendly, but I'm not sure what's going to happen now that Warner has been elected - 1st Democrat in many years.

I moved from Northern NJ to Northern VA because it was gun friendly and supposedly the Silicon Valley of the East. Well just like the Silicon Valley, the market turned to shit.

Any one looking for a good Manager/SysAdmin/Consultant soon to be Ditch Digger?
 
G
#15 ·
PA is close by and fairly gun friendly, they honor non-resident permits and PA is a "shall issue" state.

I will note that the job market in the tech sector is very slow here right now and a lot of Phila area IT companies are struggling.

I travel to VA quite often and the market just outside DC is quite busy, I know that Lockheed Martin has been hiring for tech positions in VA and DC.

VA gun laws are quite good, but DC is fairly difficult and my non- resident employment permit must be renewed each year.
 
G
#18 ·
If you have had clearance in the past you can get one renewed fairly quickly as they will usually hire you on for 30 days non-cleared/pending depending on the position.

If you have never had one you may in fact be out of luck as they are currently taking a much longer time than normal as they have been sorting through all of the clearances issued to co-broke and contract emnployees worldwide.
 
#19 ·
Well I'm not supposed to say this but Washington is a fairly wonderful place to live. Great scenery, great food, nice folks, and Shall Issue. Fastest CCW turn-around I have ever heard of was my wife’s application: Applied on a Wednesday, went into the Sheriff's office at 11:30 out before 12:00, received the permit in Friday’s mail with an approved stamp of Wednesday at 2:00 PM.

Great fresh-water and salt-water fishing, and almost every thing you can think of for outdoor sports. Gotta say the surfing probably stinks and summer can be short, I don’t know if it ever got up to 90 this last summer on the west side of the state.

Just remember it RAINS here a lot through the fall and winter and into spring, sometimes the sun isn't seen for 40+ days at a stretch. If it doesn’t move moss will grow on it, oh and we don’t tan we rust. (ever wonder why so many of us in the NW like SS and chromed guns?)

One last thing: As soon as you move here get your license plates changed to Washington. In fact it’s probably better to rent a locally licensed car if you visiting.

Ya' know, I ought'a get a job with the state tourism folks!

Webb
 
#23 ·
Actually, the Atlanta suburbs are very gun friendly. CCW is no problem. I live in Gwinnett, which is a VERY conservative area. If you work in the technical area, still lot's of jobs around. Our company cut several engineers and techs in our paper group and they all found work within a month. One downside... If you like hunting, get your checkbook out. EVERYTHING is leased access.
Fozzy
 
#24 ·
Well I am glad that I am not in the market for a job but it is important for me to be near a military facility for health care.
So since my wife is from Bellingham and her brother and his family live in Linden we have started scouting out the whole area. I will say this much that when we were last out there I went to Plantation Range which is just south of Bellingham. What a surprize to find out that it was operated by the county and it was maintained like a Golf course! And then you have Kesselring's Gun Shop whoooooeee! Also a lot of people that live in that area commute to Seattle to work. The best of all of it!
 
#26 ·
I've lived in Seattle most of my life (five year stint in Boston), and would recommend it to anyone - who wants to visit (kidding). Nobody has touched on the best part; the beer! If we could own machine guns, the gun situation would be perfect, too. Good entertainment/night life, plenty of spectator sports. You're only an hour's drive from ocean, mountains, desert, etc. It does rain. Then it pours. 265 days a year. "Summer" is the last two weeks of August and most of September.
 
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