I've got eight years to go until retirement (LE).  Kommiefornia is not an option for me to remain in, as our voters and politicians are a bunch of window lickers.  I have done my part to stem the tide of stupidity, but I have learned to never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.  In a few years, I'm looking to GTFO of here (and no, I won't ever say, "But that's how we did it in Kommiefornia or vote libtard....").

My younger brother lives in Yorktown.  I went to his wedding a few years ago and I really liked the feel of the state.  I'd like to be within about an hour's drive of him.  I would also like to live someplace where I can have about 20+ acres and shoot on my own property.  I've done some research of the area and it looks like some of the nearby counties are Gloucester, Sussex, Surry, Southampton, Isle of Wight, Suffolk City, and New Kent.  I want to be far enough inland to where I don't have to evacuate in case of a hurricane (my brother lives in one of the last zones that would have to be evacuated).

From what I have been able to tell, your firearms laws are a million times better than ours.  I would love to be able to suppress all my toys and get all the evil features I want.  From what I have read, NoVA pretty much dominates the politics of the area, which unfortunately has caused the state to be blue for the last few election cycles.  However, it looks like you have held the line so far when it comes to smacking down idiotic firearms restrictions.

Talk me into / out of moving there.

Regrettably, VA will be very blue by the time you get here.  My heartfelt advice is to look elsewhere.

Lifelong Virginian. Retired LEO. Left NOVA after retirement and built on rural land. Have 2 nice ranges out back. Will never leave. However, looking at it objectively, 1911SFOREVER is correct.

I live in Gloucester and work these areas.  If you have any questions just give me a shout.  I can tell you who is hiring and who to avoid.

You would be welcomed by true Virginian's. I would wait to see how badly the commie's kick our ass next year.
With only a 1 seat buffer in both houses, the near certain loss of our legislature next year will most likely start us onto the path of the Va SAFE ACT.

I lived in Virginia for most of the 1990s and into the early 2000s. Sadly it isn’t what it once was. It isn’t (yet) California crazy but give it time. Most of my siblings are in NOVA so I still visit often. I’m sorry for what is happening there.

The good news is that there are parts of North Carolina that are within an hour or so of Yorktown and NC isn’t as far along down the path of progressive insanity. Check out NC.

I have been here since 2011, also retired LEO from CA.  I came here for family reasons.  Northern VA above Stafford is just like CA and that cancer is spreading south.  As the others I would look at TN or NC.  Good luck and PM if you have any questions.

Look elsewhere, VA will be going full Kali when the commies take the General Assembly next year.

As far as where to look for property, anything to the east of 95, north of 64 or south of the James River. Lots of flat, rural land out there. You can be pretty well off the beaten path if you want or the closer you get toward Williamsburg and points east and you will be in congestion and traffic. Fly here and spend a week vacation just driving around and looking through the different counties. Check the local property taxes out but I’m sure everything will be cheaper than in Cali.

This.  It would suck to go through all the trouble of moving out here just to wind up in a similar situation.  We are not too bad right at the moment, but losing ground fast.  I will be leaving in about 6 years when I can retire.

I’m in the same boat. OP I wish we could give you better news but even without Amazon moving here we were already headed downhill, the influx of their employees and money in local politics will only hasten it.

I'm a VA LEO coming close to my retirement time.  I've been a life long VA resident but will be moving out of VA as soon as I retire.  Currently our gun laws are very good comparatively to other northeast states.  However,  VA has gone blue and the cancer is growing.  The northeast libtards have moved here and brought their politics with them.  Anywhere north of Frednecksburg is Everytown USA territory.  I live in New Kent county which is very rural.  That said, the libtards were vocal enough to shoot down a public range that was trying to come to fruition in the eastern part of the county.  They used the typical libtard lies and anger to convince the populace that A-10's would be dropping bombs on the range and half the county.  If you are still interested, New Kent is a pretty conservative county but we have our share of NE transplants who seem to be very vocal in local politics.

Do yourself a favor and skip VA.  It is a beautiful state that has been run over by northeastern jackwagons with very similar politics to your Commiefornia libtards.  Be safe brother....

You talking about the 2014 proposal or the 1 from this year?. Because from my understanding the 1 in Barhamsville would not have been open to the public. The Curtis folks are trying to use it as a COFA hog farm now.

I was talking about the one from this year.  I think it is hilarious that they are doing a hog farm on the property now.  The people around it will hate that much more than they would have a range.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving...

I don’t want to discourage a frank assessment of the challenges we face, but maybe we would be in better shape if we weren’t constantly talking about how all is lost and actively discouraging fellow conservatives from moving here?

What would VA politics look like if we could get just 20% of the conservatives in Montgomery County, MD to move across the river to Fairfax?

While I don’t disagree with you, the influx of liberals greatly outweighs the trickle of liberty-lovers, IMO.

The only thing that will save Virginia is a dramatic shrinking of fed.gov, which ain't gonna happen, or a law that forces fed.gov to spend money and have staff outside of a certain distance of DC (which would be a great law, but also ain't gonna happen).

if it has to be Virginia I'd recommend western to south-western Virginia

Nova.....no way!!!

Richmond ....no way. Even Chesterfield is going liberal.

Tidewater area is going to hell.

Personally i'd look into Wyoming, Montana, Idaho.....somewhere in that area.

Seriously, look in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia.  Easy access to route 81, Pennsylvania, etc.  Virginia is phucked, I'm popping smoke in 5 years.

I don't get this thought. They are moving to NoVA. To me that means whatever is happening in NoVA will continue to happen. It doesn't matter if a billion people moved to NoVA. They can vote left and right and it wouldn't affect any differently than it is right now.

Now with the governor, it's a sure bet we'll never see a gun friendly governor again. I'll agree with you on that point but I don't see how the House and Senate will be lost in this situation.

Maybe I'm not understanding something here???

It looks like there are some spots in the northeast part of NC that would still be fairly close to my brother.  It saddens me that VA is inexorably turning blue.  

If the D’s ever get into power, they can re-draw the house and senate district boundaries to favor them the same way the R’s did it years ago.  One could easily re-draw the boundaries to give the D’s about 60 seats in the house and 22-25 seats in the senate.  That’s why this next election in 2019 is so critical for us to turn out.

Or they could just screw us over in the courts and get some activist judge to redraw the lines.

BS.  As a percent of the local population there are far less Feds living in the DC area now than there were 25 years ago.  In raw numbers there are about as many Feds living in the DMV area in 2018 as there were in 1992 (350,000).  And I bet more Feds are living in the District now, compared to 25 years ago when DC was unlivable.

The problem is the general urban population is getting more liberal, many legal immigrants have settled here and they all vote Dem, and at the same time every apartment complex is being filled up with illegals.

No kidding.   CA might be lost but VA is still fighting.  Let's not chase the Reds away; we're not blue yet:
https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/virginia/

OP, I like New Kent and Gloucester the most out of your choices.  Gloucester has gotten a ton of development in the last 20 years and it appears to be continuing, so you would want to go as far north and either direction *away* from route 17 as possible to stay away from that.  I've been poking around the Lanexa and Toano areas around New Kent.  I'd rather go that direction since it's further west and gets less of the tropical storm weather than Gloucester and the littoral counties.

Here is the map for the 2018 election.   Attached File


The three blue counties in NOVA, Richmond and it's satellites and Hampton Roads have more population that the rest of the red counties combined.  That is why this state keeps going farther and farther left.  The populations of the blue areas keep growing. Even New Kent county went more than 1/3 for Kaine.  That is a big jump from the 2016 election.  I'd love to have a better outlook for VA (after all, I've lived here my whole 48 years) but the blue blight continues to grow.

All that said.... We'll welcome any conservative, gun loving person into New Kent!

Sad to say it, but look elsewhere.  I am looking to get out when my youngest is out of the house.

The cancer is reaching critical mass.

 Like my District VA 4.

Yeah, it is crazy. I moved to Virginia from Alaska in 1986 and have lived here ever since. Virginia was solid red pretty much right up until pretty much the 2008 election. I remember greeting President Reagan as he landed on the White House grounds in Marine One, and everyone in school was a Republican. 4

My third grade teacher had us decorate folders in 1988 based on the election, red for Bush and blue for Dukakis. 100% of my class had red Bush folders for our homework turn-ins for that year, which clearly represented how their parents felt and were voting. I was a bit shocked that we went blue in 2008, but the inundation of Northern democrats to NoVA have made a huge difference.

I'm concerned about my future in this state, especially as I love my house and the way I have set it up over the last decade. Not sure how this is all going to go down. We might end up like Florida with an encroaching ban on 2nd Amendment.

I feel like a lot of the negative assessments are coming from folks who are stuck around blue blighted areas, but I dunno.  I'm in an urban section for work but I have family in SW Virginia and that area truly feels like God's country.  Maybe I shouldn't be optimistic about the state's politics but it's easier to feel optimistic out in those red counties.

A lot of us live in fantastic areas, like you mentioned- but we have the same state laws that the urban blue morons are foisting upon us.  The AR in your one pic could very easily be illegal under state law down the road- and it won't matter how great our own county is at that point.

The rural red counties are hammered by the few, very populated blue counties.  This state has some very beautiful areas but it's politics have gone to shit.

I would say new kent like a few others have said love it here. but has everyone else is stated i believe va is fucked.
im looking at south carolina. if it gets much worse.