Virginia or Maryland

O

OhioAmerican

Inactive
I may be getting a job offer in Northern Virginia, wanted to get your take on whether I should be looking at houses in VA or MD? At first glance, VA is a lot more shooting sport friendly and has reciprocity with Ohio. That being said, Traffic coming from the MD side will be easier....no interest in fighting the belt traffic...any thoughts?:confused:
 
That's a personal decision only you can make. Maryland in very unfriendly toward guns. Virginia is very friendly toward guns. What has more impact on you, driving in traffic or having guns?
 
Virginia is better for recognizing gun rights, less onerous. I understand the traffic is lousy no matter where you live, everything runs towards the capitol.

If you have a choice of whether to live in freedom or slavery, you're in luck, lots of folks are trapped.

Do look at taxes and cost of living in each zip code, as well.
 
Living in MD, but within 5 minutes of VA here's my take.
MD is massively controlling & deceptive with firearms.
Some rifles are "designated as pistols" so stricter pistol rules can be applied to them for example.
They apply "rules" which aren't "laws" but which are used as such as well. Example a fire marshal in a county you don't reside in has the authority to proof you for ID when buying powder because there's a county fire code about powder in multi family dwellings.
There's a list of pistols you may posses, if it ain't on the list you can't have it. If you have one of those (remember some rifles are "designated as pistols" & so listed) then they have to go.
You will have to do the 8 hour HQL to legally posess the guns you own anyway so they'll have to stay home till you pass, or you'll have to make an advance trip & then bring them later.
& so on.

VA is better than MD, but still a bit schizophrenic with regard to firearms rules. Some are very pro gun, but some aren't as gun friendly as you might think.

Driving will depend on where in MD you re thinking of working & where in VA you're thinking of living. I-81 is usually pretty good, but I-95 is frequently a parking lot.
 
I lived in MD (in Waldorf) from 94 till 2015, just moved to VA (in Great Falls).....will never ever ever live in MD again.
 
First; where is the job in Northern Virginia?

Second; I've lived in Virginia all my life and avoid Maryland like the plague, your talking about a state that once taxed the rain.

Third;if you want to carry in Maryland you can just about forget about it, Its a may issue state and the may 95% of the time means NO!

Good luck
and
Good hunting
 
I moved from Northern Virginia about 7 years ago after retirement. Nothing against the states of Maryland or Virginia, but I personally feel for you by having to live in the D.C. Metro area. Your life is going to be more Hell by the cost of living, the traffic and other related quality of life concerns beyond gun ownership.

I would personally first look at the tax advantage based upon your personal job employment, property tax and sales tax. Then consider commute time from residence to job location. I lived a mere 20 miles from home to work and spent over an hour each way. I have no idea what it is like currently but suspect it is even worse.

As far as gun ownership, at least you are not considering a residents in D.C.

I did not consider VA as gun friendly compared to my current residence of Alabama.

My best to you in your new daunting environment. At least there are jobs in that area.
 
I live in Prince William Co. in VA. A Maryland CCW comes free with the winning lottery ticket you purchased on March 32nd. Other than guns:

I'd rather have a daily root canal than have to cross the Potomic for a daily commute. One accident in the wrong spot and you've got a 4 hour commute on your hands, honestly that's not an exaggeration. It happens every one to two years. We have the worst traffic in the nation. If you work in VA, live in VA. Going from MD into VA, the only way to avoid the Beltway and cross over into VA is by going thru DC. Drivers here in all areas are going to be among the most aggressive you've ever shared a road with. In my experience only Boston was worse. Unless you're working off rush hour hours, or can commute using Metro (our subway system) you will be spending a lot of time in your car, there's just no way around it.

MD is a nanny state and is rapidly becoming Massachusetts II when it comes to taxes. MD and DC are taxing themselves out of the competition for new businesses, it's just cheaper to do business in VA. The last gubernatorial election was won by a virtual unknown from 'the other' party largely because of this. As a general rule, your personal taxes will be lower in VA.

If you want to live in Prince George's Co, mug and assault yourself now and beat the rush.

PEPCO is the main electric company for MD and DC, Dominion is VA's. Although they've improved somewhat, the Amish wouldn't want to deal with PEPCO's frequent outages. It's gotten much better than it used to be, but PEPCO is usually rated one of the worst in the country. Investing is infrastructure wasn't a priority until the complaints got to loud to ignore.

There are some good things about Maryland, like the areas not in the DC or Baltimore area. I'm a Texan who's lived in MA, OK, Towson MD and VA, and after TX, VA is the best state I've lived in. Our state government isn't as dysfunctional as most states, usually. We weathered the resession better than most. But overall the DC Metro area isn't cheap, you'll want to look into that very carefully.
 
Last edited:
Bumnote, I also lived in Prince William County. From what you are saying, it sounds like things have gotten a lot better there. Just Joshing. It sounds like it is the Same ole Shinola only spelled better by dropping the nola and adding a t.

I think Bumnote and I are letting you in on what it is like on a good day of commuting. Then there are the bad days when all Federal Employees and Government Contractors are released at the same time (example the "911" Episode) or when there are accidents on 95, Rt. 1 and other back streets at the same time. I have seen it take me up to 4 hours to get home on a bad day of traffic. We are talking about 20 miles. I could of walked home quicker but would not have my car to get to work the next morning.

In my work, you did not dare get there late even if you had to leave home 4 hours prior to your duty hours to get there on time. Those days are over with for me :)
 
I have lived in all three jurisdictions (VA, MD, and DC) and currently live in VA. If you own guns, hands down live in VA. The culture is better, at least in Loudoun County. The commute is probably going to worse, but you'll have a number of options.
 
Having lived in NOVA for ten years, a suggestion.

Find a place in VA, but something that goes against rush hour traffic. For example, if your employment is in say...Centreville, find a place in Fairfax. That way you will be going against the tide of commuters. Yes you will pay more in mortgage/rent but it's well worth it.

Definitely avoid living in MD. Just don't.:eek: Very nazi gun laws.

I miss VA dearly. So much outdoors stuff to do there.:(
 
+1 on VA, lived in Rosslyn years ago, MD also seems to have more scandals, corruption and questionable expenditures.

+1 also on living close to work or counter-flow (winter is a bear as many drivers don't know how to drive in rain or snow).
 
I live in Fairfax, VA. Traffic in NoVA is a little insane. I don't go east-bound 66 in the morning or west in the mid/late afternoons.

But MD has high taxes, high closing costs when buying a house, bad traffic on the top end perimeter, bad traffic on 95, and is oppressive against guns.

Pick a place depending on where your job is, like others said, based on going against the flow of traffic. You'll love living in VA. Overall, people are generally nice (though in a hurry). When you get here, feel free to message me. We can meet up at a few of the ranges in the area.
 
My first job out of college in the early 70s was in Northern Virginia. I worked at Seven Corners in Falls Church. I initially lived in an apartment in Fairfax City and getting to work was not a big problem. I then bought a house in Woodbridge because of the much lower cost and taxes. I lived 22 miles from work down I-95 and it took me between 35 minutes and half a day to get to and from work. I also had to stare into the sun both going to work and returning home. I made the same sun mistake when I moved to the country after I got parole after six and a half years. My employer moved me back to the country rather than losing me. I was paid the same but my cost of living was cut almost in half.

If I were you, I wouldn't consider anywhere other than Northern Virginia but I would consider all of the variables. All of the cities in Northern Virginia have run together but the taxes, schools, regulations and other things make a hugh difference. Try to travel to and from where you want to live and where you will work before you make the decision as to where you will live.
 
I have lived in both places (although never in northern virginia). Pick Virginia every time, all other things being equal.

-More free gun laws. In MD, if you purchase an HBAR AR and then get a palmetto state armory medium length upper and stick it on your AR, you have committed a crime. In MD, you have to bend over in order to get a pistol. Good luck getting a concealed carry permit.

-Closer to the 'bigger' mountains (i.e. Shenandoah National Park and central WV). More significantly, you have less of DC to go 'through' to get to the mountains.

-Commute: Traffic is awful, so living close to work is nice.

If you come, be sure to not get sucked in to the business and rush to which many people succumb. Just relax, enjoy life, and don't get too mad when someone in front of you takes more than 1 second to go when the light turns green. :cool:
 
I just got back from Virginia, though it was western, rather than eastern VA. It was my second time in VA, and I maintain that the people there are some of the finest in the world. I love it there. There is no way I'd EVER consider living in Maryland, anymore than I would Chicago. Just an observation.
 
I would move to VA and stay in America. I do not consider MD a state of the union. It really :mad: me off knowing that our taxes go to support that regime. As I'm writing this thousands of Americans for no reason of their own except that they were born in these foreign lands (MD, NJ, NY, CT, MA) are being prosecuted for pursuing their God given rights. Where is our illustrious military when you need them? Green Berets should be dropped behind the lines today to organize the partisans and overthrow those dastardly leftist communist regimes.

Ooops, sorry, I digress. Move to VA. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top