Guns in Virginia?

W

.wheelgunner.

New member
My wife and I are tentatively thinking about moving to Lynchburg, VA.

How are the gun laws there? CCW? Shall issue? How about my AR? Glock 19? The rest of my gun collection? (Mostly older revolvers and a few 1911s.)

Anything else you could tell me would be nice. (Political environment. Housing. Fishing, etc.)

thanx
 
Virginia is a very gun-friendly state.

We are a shall-issue state with respect to concealed handgun permits. Open carry is allowed. There are a few restriction as to where one can carry (ie school property, court houses, etc) . Your AR is welcome. So is your Glock 19. I think there is a state law about carrying a loaded assault weapon in public in certain localities in Virginia, but it is a minimal restriction and can be overcome comkpletely with a CHP. The transportation of loaded shotguns and rifles in your car is generally regulated by state law as well as county ordinances. This has more to do with regulating hunting that gun control.

Virginia is a very conservative state. Except for some areas in northern Virginia, and some urban areas, even our democrats are pretty conservative. Many rural democrats are some of the strongest pro-gun politicians in the state. There is a lot of bipartisanship when it comes to introducing pro-gun legislation.

As far as housing goes, someones else can speak to that issue. I've been living in mine in southeastern Virginia for many years and, frankly, don't know much about the housing market these days.

But I do know about fishing. "Micropterus" is the genus name for black bass. I fish a lot. Even though I live close to saltwater, I look west for my fishing. I bass fish in the James River, Chickahominy River and Lake. In your prospective area, the James River will be the main hole. But other rivers, creeks and lakes abound. Virginia has excellent Largemouth, Smallmouth, Spotted Bass (in southwest Va), Striped Bass, Yellow Perch, Blue/Channel/Flathead Catfish fishing. Check the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries website.
 
i live about an hour and 1/2 southwest of lynchburg. Va is a great state, i feel like its got a little bit of everything, mountains, beaches, history, big citys and rural, and its enough in the south that you get that southern charm.
Politically its pretty conservative, depending on the area its a buyers market right now with housing, very gun friendly and the fishing is good, youll have smith mountain lake close by, trout steams, and the coast too.
 
Virginia has very strong protections for gun owners when it comes to issues that are normally covered by "Castle Doctrine" or "Stand Your Ground" laws in other states. But here, rather than those protections being written down in statutes, they come from hundreds of years of "common law" and prior case law. It can make it difficult to figure out exactly *what* the law says on a particular gun-related subject.

There was an attempt last week to formalize those protections into law, but it was rejected, largely because of the efforts of a statewide PRO-gun group. They realized that the formal statutes being proposed would actually give us FEWER protections than the common-law protections we already have.
 
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on Tuesday signed a measure to repeal the state’s nearly 20-year-old ban on purchasing more than one handgun per month, delivering a major victory to gun rights advocates in the state.

this was also good news
 
You can take an online course to get the cert. for CCW in VA. The only issue I have with our permits are they look so cheap, I worry a LEO in another state might think I forged it if I had to show it to them.
I grew up in Texas and find the state to be just as gun-friendly, I live in Northern VA and the only problem I have is finding places to shoot...especially outdoors, but that's more of a zoning and cost of real estate issue more than anything else.
I'd move to the Lynchburg area with no second thought. I like the state, and outside of Northern VA and the Newport/Norfolk areas, VA housing is affordable, we've got good schools, nice folks and a lot to do within a few hours drive. Our economy's been in pretty good shape as well during the recession compared to others.
 
Our gun laws (or lack thereof) are some of the best in the country. Just check the Brady point system for states. Now that we've deleted the 1 handgun a month, we're way far down there in Brady popularity. Only big issue I have is "no hunting on Sundays", but I still love Virginia!
 
And FWIW, I believe there is consideration in removing the requirement to have a permit for Concealed Carry - so if it were to be passed, any citizen who can legally own a pistol can carry-concealed without having to get a permit. I don't know when/if that might come to pass, but I thought I'd mention it.
 
James River, Blue Ridge Mountian foothills, cattle and tobacco farmland, some minor inner city areas and a maybe few holdover prudish alcohol laws courtesy of Falwell's Liberty University influence. Don't know any firearm laws specific to Lynchburg, but Nelson County and Amherst are within a few miles, Nelson permits/applications come out of the Nelson county seat in Lovingston located on 29 between Charlottesville and Lynchburg.
No problems that I've seen...hunting, getting a CCW, target shooting, carrying, in Nelson County.
I think all Virginia lakes are man made but we got fish.
It's a firearm friendly part of the state, and pickup truck gun racks are the norm.:)
 
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I believe the biggest striped bass taken from Smith Mountain lake is a 49.4 pounder. My largest have all been 15 to 20.

John
 
no the record striper from smith is much bigger, i was in one of the marinas up there and the one time record was on the wall, i think it was close to 80lbs, seems like a bigger one has been caught since. I think the biggest one i ever caught was 22lbs, buddy of mine caught a 35lb, that thing pulled our boat around like it was jaws lol.
 
I wish we would keep the ban on Sunday hunting. There's something kind of nice about respecting that one day each week. Gives the animals a day of rest as well. :) I'm sure that someone will say that Sundays are the only day he/she has off each week. However, that's probably rare. But, I imagine it's only a matter of time. I'll be lucky to see church allowed on Sundays by the time I'm an old man.

But, in answer to your question... overall, Virginia is very gun friendly. There are a few areas where that is less so (not Lynchburg), but it's a great place to shoot and hunt.
 
It's not about animal day of rest or I can only hunt on Sundays. There are too many deer here, and they cause a lot of damage to cars. I don't go to church, so I may as well hunt.
 
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