Anyone in RI? What is the gun climate like there, especially down along the coast?
What do you want to know? I'm posting from RI right now and I was a resident of RI for 23 out of my 24 years.
Rhode Island is not New Hampshire. There isn't the "Live Free or Die" thing (mostly because RI's Revolutionary War history was... interesting). Consequently RI does not cater to libertarians. Nor does it have issues that stem from libertarians.
RI gun laws, on the books, are straight forward. No suppressors, SBRs or SBSs or full auto. Town carry permits are shall issue. However the town police chiefs who are supposed issue the permits can decide "no" for whatever reason they want. For example, the town in RI I lived in before I moved to NH has an application that requires a non-existent mental health exam and requires you to allow them access to basically every single facet of information about your life. I talked to a former Attorney General about this and he said it is utter crap. Problem was I had one of two options: A) Spend $10,000+ on a lawsuit after the RI gun rights group who volunteered to help me decided to ban me or B) take my money and run. I chose B.
In South County (Washington County), you wouldn't have a problem like I did unless you were to move to North Kingstown or South Kingstown. If you were to move to Tiverton, Little Compton, Jamestown, Charlestown, maybe Narragansett and Westerly, you'd be fine. You'd be very fine if you lived in Hopkinton, Foster, Scituate, Burrillville, North Smithfield, West Greenwich, etc. My dad lives in Tiverton - the state law requires permits to be issued in 90 days. My dad got his in 14.
Attorney General issued permits are may-issue. These are the "I carry large sums of money" permits or permits for work like a security guard (with company blessing). You have to prove a showing of need and AG permits were brought to court in around 2000ish. These are issued at the discretion of the Attorney General, who isn't a friend to gun rights in RI, but not as bad as Maura.
Gun "culture" in RI...
There are now two rental ranges in RI. Midstate Guns in Coventry (avoid Coventry for living in) and Sakonnet River Outfitters in Tiverton (Tiverton is nice). Most people shoot at gun clubs, like Mass. You're mostly going to be dealing with trap and skeet clubs with pistol and rifle ranges not making a lot of money and therefore not having the best facilities, with a few exceptions like Bradford, Tiverton and Wallum Lake. The "best" gun club is subjective obviously. I would recommend Bradford Sportsmen's Club (Charlestown), Narragansett Gun Club (Exeter), Tiverton Rod and Gun Club (Tiverton), Wallum Lake Rod and Gun Club (Burrillville) and East Warren Rod and Gun Club (Warren).
Wallum Lake has the best facilities in the state, no questions asked. They also hold the most events. They recently begun having 3-gun shoots and they have the biggest amount of area for the shotgun sports. They're well organized and they're active in 2A activism (talk to Gary). The two clubs that come close to WL are Bradford and Tiverton. I've shot at Bradford but I don't know enough about it personally to give you a run down. Tiverton would be great if you're not a skeet shooter and you live on Aquidneck Island or Tiverton or Little Compton and you want somewhere close to shoot.
Gun rights activism...
RI every year has anti bills and pro-gun bills showing up in the legislature. So you're going to have to be active and alert and work with your gun club or Federated Sportsmen or a state level gun rights group. RI is a great place to live as a gun owner once you get a carry permit from your town and if you like being active. If you want to be fat and happy, do not move to Rhode Island.
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