Thinking of moving...

[The sphinx]

Anywhere not Maryland.

 

[ibanez320dx]

It almost feels like a shame that so many on a Maryland forum would recommend another state. I don't disagree at all. I love our state geographically, historically, and for it's balance of all the seasons. But when it comes to politics and gun ownership... not so much. What everyone else has said is on point.

 

[traveller]

This should bring up a table of our surrounding states as to their tax climate for retirees:

http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/retir...xes-on-retirees/compare.php?ids=47-21-39-8-49

When comparing income tax rates, make sure you look at exemptions and how the state treats company pensions.

You mentioned that you like to get into long distance shooting. Both West Virginia and Delaware have 1000yrd ranges.

Idaho and the east coast are very different places when it comes to culture, people general mindset. Before you pull up your tent-stakes in gods country, consider renting a small home somewhere near your grandkids and try it out for fit. Also, how committed are your kids to remain in this area ? No point going through the production to move here and 2 years from now they have to follow a job offer to Florida.

Which brings me to the issue of Florida. Idaho to MD requires a connection and is expensive. There are many budget airlines that connect various places in FL to BWI and DCA. Lake County, FL is much closer to central MD than many places in PA, VA or WV. Oh, and FL doesn't have an income tax, what you save on tax will pay for many round trips. And they love guns, I mean really looove guns down that way.

 

[LGood48]

Greetings!

 

[snavematt]

Montana

 

[ohen cepel]

Do not move to md.

Will cost you at least 15% more to live here than there, depending on your income/retirement situation it could be even more than that. Big part of your freedom lost also.

PA is retirement friendly and you could get there in 1.5hrs. Or, into sane parts of VA in 1.5hrs or so. If that is not close enough to where you want to be then you'll have to sell some things and check your 2A rights at the state line.

It is a big decision. I would come and look at the clubs, etc if you want to shoot in this area. It can be a PAIN, not like when I was a kid and we shot in the back yard whenever we liked.

I think you would be much, much better off to stay out there and make trips as you like east. Then, when the kid is older he'll have the West to come visit and experience rather than being stuck here.

 

[Drmsparks]

Delaware Beaches is the place to be. It's an hour and a half to Annapolis and the grand kids will love the beach in the summer.

There are not many long range places to shoot.....

Meade range (pa, altoona area)

There is the one range in delaware, the name escapes me (BRIDGEVILLE?) and

quantico VA

THe delaware range is the only one in easy commute to Annapolis.

 

[DCSCO]

All of the above, but grandkids are worth it.

 

[Bolts Rock]

There are not many long range places to shoot.....

Meade range (pa, altoona area)

There is the one range in delaware, the name escapes me (BRIDGEVILLE?) and

quantico VA

THe delaware range is the only one in easy commute to Annapolis.

Bridgeville DE, Original and New Holland PA, Flint Hill MD (they announced plans a year or so ago, not sure it they followed through), Peacemaker WV, Quantico VA.

For the OP:

If you can dream it, Maryland can tax it. We tax the rain FFS. Maryland ranks in the bottom 10 to states to retire to as well. Maryland gun laws make less sense than wet spaghetti dumped on the floor. There's a reason we refer to our legislature as the "General Asylum". That festering herpes blister on the bay is also referred to as Bodymore, Murdaland for a reason but it isn't quite Detroit or Chicago yet. Any adjoining state would be a better bet. Born here, raised here, retiring the hell out of here this year.

 

[Overboost44]

It really depends on how "close" you need to be. I.e. how often you'll be visiting. If you plan to babysit once a week, you obviously need to be closer than if you just drive in for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays.

If you must move to MD, and want to be close to Annapolis, the Eastern Shore is still pretty conservative in most spots despite liberal strongholds in the larger towns.

Delaware is there too...which is better in some ways, worse in others.

VA might be an option too, again depending on how far you're willing to commute.

If you're that into guns, I would honestly avoid MD if you could. But maybe you can't.

Good advice here. Will you be the grandparents that will visit a couple of times a week to baby sit or a couple of times a month? My wife's mother moved from south of Annapolis to Kent Island (about 25 miles) so that she could be about 7 miles away from her grandkids and it has been a blessing for us and our children.

If you need to be within hours, I would probably suggest DE as others have said, you could be their "place near the beach". It is better on the retirement income (if important), the guns, and the ranges or farmland to shoot on.

Bridgeville DE, Original and New Holland PA, Flint Hill MD (they announced plans a year or so ago, not sure it they followed through), Peacemaker WV, Quantico VA.

For the OP:

If you can dream it, Maryland can tax it. We tax the rain FFS. Maryland ranks in the bottom 10 to states to retire to as well. Maryland gun laws make less sense than wet spaghetti dumped on the floor. There's a reason we refer to our legislature as the "General Asylum". That festering herpes blister on the bay is also referred to as Bodymore, Murdaland for a reason but it isn't quite Detroit or Chicago yet. Any adjoining state would be a better bet. Born here, raised here, retiring the hell out of here this year.

Also, good advice and there are plenty of others here. There is also Delmarva Sporting Clays near Cambridge, MD and you could get there easily from DE.

Best of luck and Congrats!

 

[alzoom85]

I would stronlgy suggest the eastern shore of virgina, Being as he stated he want too shoot longe range. De doent allow rifle hunting.
Esva is open flat and empty low taxes lower population 3 hr commute to annapolis.

 

[drthv8r]

I've lived in The People's Republic of Godforsaken maryland all my life, I can say this without hesitation. Do NOT move here, if having any money in your wallet means anything to you stay clear of this over taxed cesspool of a state. Do you know rain and also flushing a toilet is taxed here? No lie.

 

[rico903]

Eastern shore of VA would be my choice. Nice and quiet and gun friendly. About a 3hr drive to Annapolis. A member here runs a long rang shooting school in central VA also. PA can be affordable if you do your homework. Property taxes are low but school taxes can be high depending on the district. You can have 2 houses literally 1 mi apart and exactly the same and one will be 1/2 the taxes. No taxes on retirement if that matters. Again, about 2+ hrs to Annapolis. DONT move near Annapolis, it's expensive as hell. I think much of it depends on what guns you own and how many you'd like to keep. VA&PA gun friendly, MD NOT. I have 5 years on you and would like to get out. I always see Boise listed as a great place to retire but if I move it's going to be some place warm. No matter what you are in for culture shock. And welcome to MDS.

 

[photoracer]

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.

However, owning quite a few firearms as I do, the thought of moving to Maryland scares the daylights out of me. 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? I would love to get any thoughts y'all might share with me about everything from the availability of places to shoot to the number of competitions around (bullseye, IDPA, three gun etc. etc.) to the realities of gun ownership in the state of Maryland. Perhaps even some insight into what parts of Maryland might be more to my liking. Or thoughts about nearby Pennsylvania or Virginia.

While I am perfectly legal to buy firearms and have done so through my local FFL many, many times, I also own a large number of guns purchased FTF. Did I say I own a LOT of guns. I don't relish the nightmare scenario of having to get permission from the state of Maryland to continue to own all of the guns that I currently own.

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!

Well Peacemaker National Training Center in West Virginia has long range rifle competition out to as much as 1400 yards, along with 1000 yard with electronic targets and 600 yard DMR matches. Not to mention IDPA, USPSA, Steel Challenge, 3-Gun, 2-gun, and shotgun. But their primary focus is rifle.
You need to decide whether to live close and deal with Maryland gun laws or live in VA, WV, or PA where the climate is a lot better. Not sure about Delaware. WV would be about a 2.5 hour drive to Annapolis, or you could live across the bay in Virginia which would be closer.

 

[DaemonAssassin]

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.

However, owning quite a few firearms as I do, the thought of moving to Maryland scares the daylights out of me. 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? I would love to get any thoughts y'all might share with me about everything from the availability of places to shoot to the number of competitions around (bullseye, IDPA, three gun etc. etc.) to the realities of gun ownership in the state of Maryland. Perhaps even some insight into what parts of Maryland might be more to my liking. Or thoughts about nearby Pennsylvania or Virginia.

While I am perfectly legal to buy firearms and have done so through my local FFL many, many times, I also own a large number of guns purchased FTF. Did I say I own a LOT of guns. I don't relish the nightmare scenario of having to get permission from the state of Maryland to continue to own all of the guns that I currently own.

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!

Greetings and welcome to the forum.

I won't answer any of the questions you have, due to MD being surrounded by free states. Go to VA, WV (Peacemaker NTC is there), or PA to stay close to your grand kids. You will be glad you didn't move to MD. May Issue, gun prohibitions, registration, HQL, taxes, and a whole bunch of other crap are the problems you will have to deal with in MD.

 

[Scottysan]

Welcome, from Crofton, MD!
smart of you to seek out the locals for the real deal !
One of our Industry Partners here is Ed Shell (E.Shell) who teaches long range shooting down at Central Virginia Tactical. He has a great rep here, and has helped many of us from time to time.

 

[Biggfoot44]

I get it, you want to be within range of grandkids. The real question is just how close you need to be. Not sure if you are familar with the traffic and travel times for regular everyday people doing regular everyday things in a traffic hellhole, but by Md standards, an hour counts as close.

Deleware just over the Md border is well under an hour from Annapolis, much lower housing prices and cost of living, much lower taxes, much better firearms laws. Getting a CCW is more of a hassle than the other options, but can be done. Will also put you on reasonable distance of Delmarva Sporting Clays, which despite the name offers a 500yd rifle range in addition to clays.

The drive to Northern Va (when no traffic or road work) will be about an hour. lower taxes, execellent gun laws, fairly quick no hassle CCW . But the areas close in to Wash DC aka closest to Annapolis are decidedly pricey. Less expensive areas of Northern Va will be an additional hour farther away , with bad traffic every foot of the way. At that amout of drive time, you could have been on the sliver of Va located on the Delmarva penninesula.

 

[HappyCamper]

Do NOT move to MD, and there is a reason people here say they live behind enemy lines. Seriously explore the logistics and reality of moving the rest of your family out near you in Free America.

 

[TheGunnyRet]

Welcome Aboard, realizing the commentary about MD, I recently moved here from NC for the same reasons only we have 3 and family all over MD. Its a difficult decision, yes there are many "obstacles" with bringing your weapons...and acquiring firearms...Ranges are limited, the outlying States are more Gun friendly...if you have the ability to search around your child's location do so and get a feel for the area...The good thing is that you have several States to check out...if you don't have a choice then prepare as best you can, this forum is a good source of information...

 

[casualmadness]

I came from WA state (not too far from ID). It's tough to leave that area but it seems you have good reason.
If you move here, my advice is avoid MD like the plague. Not just due to the gun culture but that is a big part of it. Taxes, high cost of living, gun laws that are impossible to understand, and here in Montgomery County-some of the most self absorbed/self important douche bags I've ever encountered. Outside of the beltway is 1000x better but being in MD, you're still subjected to a lot of the same crap. But I have met some really great people in places like Frederick and the eastern shore.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have bought a place in West Virginia. I tried to get the wife to move out there but she will only agree to it if she quits her job and I support us 100%. I'm not willing to do that so we agreed on VA. We're trying to sell our house in MD not even three years after we bought and put about $40K into it.
That's how much it sucks here.