Hello gents,

So I am in the process of selling my house here in upstate NY. One of my options, other than buying another house up here, is moving. Due to my job, I can transfer down to their location in Morrisville, which I know is right outside Raleigh. I know the gun laws are a lot more lenient compared to this crap shoot, but there are a few specifics I'd like to know, as well as stuff about living in that area. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

1. What's required to get a CCW permit? Any length of time required to live in the state/area before hand? Here in NY, you're required to live in the state for over a year I believe (I've been here my whole life), and requires 6+ months of waiting after submitting all paperwork, including fingerprints, reference forms, safety course, etc... and you can still be denied for various reasons. I was denied due to my poor driving record essentially, but that was a few years ago now.

2. I know all of my guns would be legal down there, as they are here now. Aside from not having an AWB down there, I know NFA stuff is allowed with proper paperwork. What I'd mainly like is SBR and suppressors. What is the average wait time for the tax stamp? From what I have read years ago, it's similar in process to getting a pistol permit here in NY.

3. What's living down there like? Have any of you moved from NY as well, and if so, any regrets?

4. Are there any ranges that I would like to join? Any ranges to avoid? Any of them have several hundred yards for rifle?

5. I've looked on Zillow for houses, but it's somewhat difficult given I don't know the area that well. Ideally, the property would have a few acres, as I'd like to have a small range for pistol shooting and plinking. Are there any laws pertaining to that? House wise I'd like 2000ft+/-, fairly new, and central air is a must. This isn't me asking if you will search for me, but if you do know someone selling something similar to what I'm looking for, I'd be interested.

Again, thanks for any help you can provide. I haven't been active on the forum really since the NY unSAFE Act was passed, but now that I'm getting back into things and looking to a more 2A friendly state, I plan on being here more often.

My wife and I moved from MI to NC back in 2007, Raleigh area, and really like it. Yesterday it was 74* and sunny here, I had on shorts and a Tshirt. The weather is great, you still get seasons. Oceans on one end, mountains on the other. We really like it. Not sure on how long you have to be here to get your permit as I lived her for 3 years before I got mine.  NC is a shall issue state, so unless you're inelligible for some reason you'll get your permit.

Lots of ranges, pretty much everywhere. The good ones are probably an hour or so drive from the Raleigh area, but there are some closer. Wake County has a nice facility that is public.

I like www.trulia.com for searching for real estate and use the "seach within map" feature.

Morrisville is a booming area, you'll have a hard time finding land withing actual Morrisville but if you expand your search out a bit (Chatham County) you shouldn't have a problem at all.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions and welcome to NC!

Check out northern Lee county.  We have a very gun friendly sheriff.  Land is cheaper than Chatham.

I am in Morrisville and the land part is spot on. Nice safe area with good schools if needed for you. If you look at hwy 55 between Cary Durham and Chatham county there is still land out there.

Good shops and ranges, and laws are easy compared to New York (Commy) State. I've been here my whole life and I love it here

Thanks for the great info guys.

I'm not really concerned with being in Morrisville, but that's where my job would be based out of and ideally my commute wouldn't be too long. I'm spoiled up here with my commute being only about 15-20 minutes on a bad day. What's traffic like down there? Mind you, I'm not near NYC where you have to plan an hour commute if you're driving 10 miles. Essentially I'm taking back roads where the biggest hold up is maybe 10-15 cars at the one stop sign I hit. I totally forgot about Trulia's map feature being a bit better than Zillow.

I remember reading in another thread that in certain counties, you cannot shoot on your own land. I believe it was Durham county? I don't remember if there were others. And in some towns/cities you cannot carry (I think it was, ironically, Cary).

My only issue with moving is leaving friends and family behind here. But it's only a 12hr drive at most, and flights are pretty quick too if I fly out of Charlotte. Every single other factor points that it's the right move for my wife and I. Your property taxes are freaking insane compared to similar houses up here. And I mean that in a good way. The houses I'm looking at have around $2k/yr in taxes, where a similar house up here, depending on county, is at least $7k.


Also, I don't think anyone answered this, but any idea on the time frame with NFA stuff, as long as it's not full auto?

And then with the CCW, I recall reading that you don't need a permit to purchase a pistol, but just to carry. To purchase, I'd just need to get a coupon or ticket from the county to get one, is that correct? I'm sure I'll come up with more questions as time gets closer.

Thanks again for the help everyone!

If you have a CCW permit you can carry in any city as far as I know

Purchase permit from Sheriff required (if you don't have a CCW) for handguns, nothing required for long guns.

In the more rural parts open carry is fairly common, I see it in Fuquay a couple times a month.

Traffic isn't too bad, I have a 22 mile commute to work (Fuquay to Raleigh) that takes me 25 min in the morning (6am) and about 35 min (3pm) in the afternoon. It all depends on where you live and which roads you decide to take. 540 has really helped getting in and out of the Morrisville area.

That said if we get even a trace of snow the whole area goes full retard and gridlock ensues, honestly just work from home or burn a vacation day if they are forcasting now. It was quite the eye opener seeing the carnage down here on snowy roads having grown up in MI where its no big deal.

This happened last year....



Not sure on the NFA stuff,sorry. You may want to ask over at http://www.carolinashootersclub.com/forum/

LOL @ full retard. I've heard nothing but similar things when it comes to snow down there. I look forward to driving in snow up here, but AWD + snow tires spoils me. That's another thing I'm looking forward to... No need for a dedicated summer/winter vehicle.

I drive a 330i ZHP with 94 tread wear tires all year

Jealous. I had an 02 M3 that I sold because I didn't have nearly as much time to do track events with. That's another thing I'm spoiled with up here. Lots of great tracks within 5-6hrs... Watkins Glen, Lime Rock, Pocono, NJMP, etc,,,

You'll fit in well here then, huge BMW scene. VIR is a little over an hour north of Raleigh, Carolina Motorsports Park is not far either.

Not sure what the length of residency requirements are.  But the process is pretty quick compared to NY, apparently.  Take a CCW class, do the application, pay for the background check and mental health records check, get finger printed, wait up to 45 days and unless you're disqualified for some reason, there you go.  You'll have a MUCH better time of getting one in Wake, Chatham, Lee counties.  Avoid Orange and Durham counties, they are very unfriendly.  Not sure about the areas east of Raleigh.  NC is a Shall Issue state, so unless you meat some very specific requirements for disqualification, they HAVE to issue a CCW permit.



NFA is a much different story.  It's next to impossible in most jurisdictions around here to get the necessary CLEO signoff (the County Sheriff in each case).  Your best bet for NFA stuff is to set up a gun trust and use that (while that's still something you can do).  Doing it via a trust you're looking at however long the current ATF wait time is, and I have no idea what that is could be anywhere from a couple months to almost a year.  I've heard that NFA dealers who use efiling are getting faster results though.  But I don't know that first hand.



I moved here from VA and love it.  I love out in Chatham County though, away from the cities.  I lived in Durham when I first moved here and hated it.  Out in the country I have 10 acres of land that is pretty much unrestricted and unzoned and it's nice and quiet.  Raleigh is not a bad city, Morrisville and Apex have generally decent small-city atmospheres.  All the smaller cities are essentially bedroom communities to Raleigh and Durham.  You may also want to look at Garner and Fuquay-Varina.



Apex actually has a public range with indoor 100 Yard lanes for rifles.  There are several in the area, but your best bets for ranges are going to be out north of 85, south of Raleigh and farther out into the country.  Most are private clubs and in some cases the waiting lists can be long.  I don't know of any off the top of my head though, sorry.  I generally shoot on my own property and havent been to a range in a long while.


Again, your best bet if you want land to shoot on is going to be out in Southern Chatham County (there's a dividable 100 acre parcel just a few miles down the road from my home).  Lee county also is more rural and may have some good sized lots.  Also south of Raleigh out in Johnston and Harnett counties too.  Wake is pretty well developed and I doubt you'll really find space enough to shoot safely and not incur the wrath of your neighbors.  

I still push Chatham... As long as you avoid the northern half where Chapel Hill is encroaching and the western parts where Cary is spilling over, it's a pretty nice, rural area that's within commuting distance of Raleigh and Durham and RTP.

Hope that helps.  I haven;t been terribly active until recently as well.  Got distracted by other things in life and hadn't really spent much time on any forums.

Thank you for all of the great info! It's definitely helping my decision on location. The wife and I just need to get a week or so to come down and meet with a Realtor to check some properties out. I'll probably need a good recommendation on one shortly, though my time frame for moving would be sometime in late Feb.

I've seen a few houses in Lee and Chatham counties that look appealing to the wife and I, and we're also looking in southern Wake County as well. The search area's expanded a bit from our original locations!

Hit me up if you come down and we'll grab a beer.

You don't want to move here. There are too many Yankees and it sucks....The summers are BRUTALLY HOT and will kill a new yorker! Don't leave you life long friends. stay close to them.

NFA in Wake County will require a trust. The sheriff went back on his campaign promise to allow NFA stuff. I don't know any ranges where you can shoot NFA. Maybe the  Wake county range. to purchase a pistol you have to get a pistol purchase permit (old Jim crow law, but the sheriffs love the money) you can get five at a time, there is no expiration. If you have CCW you don't need to bother. You get them from the sheriff.

If you move here be sure to leave everything about New York behind. We are full to over flowing with know-it-all yankees that "do it at home like this" leave it! You left there for a reason, leave those reasons THERE don't bring them with you. We've enough half-assed liberal NE east pukes screwing around with things.

In fact  the democrats just took over the Wake county school board and the county board. So I am expecting Bussing to start (they LOVE IT and we JUST got rid of it) and taxes to go up. And and the "regional rail" which will go nowhere anyone wants to go and will not be financially viable, will be built.

If it snows. its going to screwed up period. So enjoy the fact that snow is an event and not just weather. Yeah we know NE driver are great and its nothing TO YOU....Yeah yeah stay home anyway.

You maybe able to fly out of RDU to go home,  Charlotte is a 3 hour drive from Raleigh. a bit far for a plane ride.

There are rules about shooting on you own property  County rules are different than cities.  I believe APEX (which is in the area of Morrisville/cary) has some pretty messed up rules, but there is no land to have to room to shoot anyway so....still they are waiting on someone to take them to court about it.

If you like Indians(dot variety) and Asians, crazy traffic and a bazillion people stuffed together shopping in pretty much ONE (thank to central planning in CARY) in one largish shopping area. Move to Cary

Raleigh is a bit more spread out. Commute from Raleigh to Morrisville will be 30 minutes to an hour depending upon when and what area you live in. Rush hour is and 7:30-9:00 and 4-6pm after that is done roads will be clear. but in general its about 5-20 minutes to get anywhere and that includes all the way across town
You may want to look at Holly Springs, Apex. and Fuquay-Varina as well. They are al close to morrisville  So far wake county has not homogenized into one beige mass. Each town has it own flavor.

Cary-------Yuppies, AKA as Containment Area for Relocated Yankees
Apex---- Sort of like Cary (right next to each other) but has tried hard to keep its small town-ness. I think in the city you are not allowed to shoot even a bb gun on  your property.
Holly Springs. formerly a small town farming community but everything is new because its all only about 12-15 years old! The Wake County range is here. (100 yard indoor range)
Morrisville--- Like Cary,
Fuquay-Varina. Used to be two towns but merged neither town wanted to give up its name so they hyphened it. Has a good old boy county feel (and look ) to it.

This may be helpful

http://www.usacarry.com/north_carolina_concealed_carry_permit_information.html

Thats all I got.

BTW Feb is about the time spring starts in NC!

Not that you need any more motivation, but here are some shots I've taken of NC since moving here....

Sunset over the Albemarle sound off Manteo, my parents live out there


Tearing up the 'Dragon in a friends S54 Z3 //M


Random pull off of the Blue Ridge Parkway


Wheeling at Uwharrie


5am mouth of the Pamlico, sailing out to Ocracoke


Roost on Harris Lake!


Hike to Table Rock with the Mrs



Anyways, you get the idea. Lots of awesome stuff to do in this state if you're active

Man, those views are great. We got mountains and lakes up here, but nothing really compares to the ocean.
I'm definitely looking forward to driving the Dragon, as I've heard so many good things about it. I just need to get another fun car once I move (E92 M possibly).

Also, what's involved with vehicle inspections down there? Do they do OBDII plug in and all for emissions?

Here's another question for everyone... What's the square footage of your home and do you know what your peak summer/winter bills for electricity and natural gas are? We have National Grid up here, and for NG/Elec, I pay about $300/mo in the winter if we have our fireplace on for a 3100ft home. I'm expecting to save money in the winter, but spend more in the summer due to AC. I'm planning on around 2000ft. We have no choice on the provider really, unless you want to go with some company who still uses National Grid as a delivery service, so the savings are pretty much void. I wouldn't mind going solar, but the cost savings may not be worth it for a long time and I'd still need someone for NG.


Phoen1x, lots of good info in your post, thank you very much.

Wake County does OBDII scans, I think it varies by county tho. Its $30 annually

We have a 1900sq ft house, built in 2010 and our summer elec is 150, winter is 100. That said my wife drives a Chevy Volt so our elec numbers are not typical.

Not really a bummer on the OBD II scans, as we do it in NY as well.

Do your electric bills include gas? Or do you use oil/propane/electric for heat too? If you're at that rate using electric heat, that's not bad at all compared to up here.

We mainly use electric here from what I've seen. The climate is more moderate than NY so not much NG usage or availability afaik. For example my house has a heat pump, its a small 3bdrm 1300 sq ft. Costs about 50-85 per mo. on average, in the summer I set the thermostat on 80 and 70 in winter. I hate cold so if the outside temp drops below freezing the heat pump system can't work properly. So I have a propane fireplace (25k btu) and ceiling fan that works well. One 40lb propane cyclinder is 25 bucks per refill and lasts around a month.


https://www.progress-energy.com/carolinas/home/index.page#Carolinas

eta- found my house through these folks, ask for Barbara G.

http://www.buyersadvantagegroup.net/

My house has a forced air furnace, runs off natural gas.

That's interesting, are you in a northern county? I'm in Johnston county and everyone I know has heat pumps. Have you
ever averaged your yearly heating and cooling bills? I think in the future N/G will be the way to go depending on location.
And all the global warming stuff blows over,I'm no expert on this stuff but do think the winters are going to become colder
here

Nope, live in Fuquay. House was built in 2010. We probably spend about 100 per month for HVAC averaged out, 1900sq ft

I heat and cool almost 4000 sq ft.  Electric bill is 125 per mo. year round.  I have natural gas heat on first floor and hot water.srping to fall gas is about 24 per month and during the winter it might get to 100 per month

That's incredible, seriously. January and February are generally the most expensive for me, with about $300/mo for gas/electric.

As I sit in my home now, looking out the window and seeing the snow falling pretty fast, I just cannot wait to get down there.

It was 50 today with not a single cloud in the sky.

Only good thing I can say about being in Raleigh is that you are close to some big gun shows. Other than that all I can say is traffic sucks, people are rude and it is not a good sample of what Carolina life is like. BUT you are not that far from the beach or the mountains, an easy day trip to either one. There are ranges here and there, some are over priced some are under priced, depending on how far you are willing to drive.  NC CHP classes are abundant, but most seem to be just out for your money, personally im not signing a certificate unless the student demonstrates skills at a level im comfortable with. www.SAFEshootersNC.com.

I'm not rude

I would not agree with the rudeness of drivers. Go drive in Philly, Ny DC Chicago or Charlotte then you'll see rude.  

Raleigh is easy living.

Rude people and bad drivers are quite abundant where I live now, so if that's what I have to deal with while living in a more free state, I can work with that.

Another question for you guys:

In NC, do they have a point system or anything on driver's licenses? Here in NY, if you get a moving violation conviction, you get points added to your license. After they go over a certain amount you pay a yearly fee, and then once it reaches another amount, your license gets suspended. Curious if it's similar down there, or if it's just pay a fine and you're good to go. Random question, I know.

EDIT: Nevermind. NC made it easy to find the driver's handbook with all of the info I needed. Looks like you guys have licenses similar to ours in regards to points, DWI, signage, etc... Pretty easy to get a license as long as mine's not expired here.

I moved to Cary from CT via NY this year - & then I got a job working for a computer company in Morrisville. It's like
living in Cabellas or Bass Pro Shop - jet skiing at Jordan Lake; Shooting at 37PSR; every semi-auto is legal; 30, 40, 100 mags - your choice.
I'm Never going back - Cuomo and the other politicos can keep pushing their taxes and "Rights for Criminals" on the zombie masses.
Got Kids? Due to explosive growth do your homework on the schools for your house's district and whether they're on the bubble for going
into a new school district in the coming years because of the population growth.
Buying a home? 50% off CT purchase price and taxes are 70% less.
Gas? Nice to pay NJ-like prices & less wherever you drive to.
People? Disgustingly friendly and cheery - now I know why(see above).
Saving for college educations? NC residents pay up to $12K per year for the BEST colleges down here - <$12K for Good colleges.
Weather? Shoot all year long in long sleeve t-shirts - locals are wrapped in fleece but 50/60s are like early spring for me.
Need a Tech Job? Oracle, RedHat, SAS, Citrix, Bronto, Cisco........
Single? Tons, tons, tons of great young & cougar women looking for rootin tootin hairy chested hombres to sweep them off their feet and give them some lovin.
that about checks all the boxes ..... Tons of fun in the sun and all the ammo you can fit in your car and they'll even help you load it.

See my problem with that is I know that most of those have been laying off, not hiring. In fact a lot of the so called "tech" around here has been letting people go from "Apps" to "Pharm" and everything in between.

So tread carefully, it's not all wine and roses around here.



Even if NY is a crap hole.

pretty much every stae is the same. The feds petty much control that via the  pocket book.

Yea, it's crap, but can't do nothing about it nowadays, sadly. I know in NY, if you have a moving violation over a certain point amount, the fine money goes to the state, rather than the town, regardless of who you were pulled over by (state police vs. sheriff vs. town PD). That bothers me a bit, as if I'm going to pay a fine, I'd like to see it go to the community I pay it in.


I'm most likely going to be coming down in early February to check houses out and buy one. I'd rather wait until my house is 100% sold (closing is 2/5) so I don't have to worry about losing buying power due to me needing the contingency of my home closing. Found a ton of houses I like, and most meet my requirements aside from the land, but with so many ranges within an hour of the homes, I'm not really worried about it.

well if you garden you will be here with plenty of time to get  some  plants in. Potatos go in around feb 15

I use this....

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/quickref/vegetable/plantingguide.html

NC has a dual point system.  One in the handbood affects your drivers license and the other is insurance points which affect your wallet.  There are ways around some of the points on both drivers license and insurance.