OK, I live in VA Beach. What do you want to know? I haven't noticed it as uber-liberal. You can get the CLEO to sign-off on class three, so just what is "liberal"? Yeah, PETA has their headquarters in neighboring Norfolk. It's located scenically right on the river. The local contry station sponsors a fishing tourament right beneath their building
. 99% of the population here think the PETA folks are just nuts transplanted from California or somewhere.
Virginia Beach itself is the largest city in Virginia. We are the largest city in the US (the 14th in size in the US) that has all-volunteer EMS.
The city itself is predominately a housing area for the military. There is no heavy industry in the city itself, though neighboring cities have heavy industry (Ford truck plant, shipyards, etc). The closest thing in "the Beach" are various production lines, like STIHL chainsaws. There is a great deal of light industry, which provide jobs for most non-military folks.
The big seasonal money comes from the beachfront. This is a strip a few miles long and a few blocks deep. There has not recently been much trouble because the local police has held a tight rein on things down there. It's not some anual event where all the town's citizenry are going to become the victims of Spring Break barbarians every year
.
The area itself has not been stressed by the poor economy. Many businesses continue to grow. Obviously the strong military prescence in the area has alot to do with that in wartime. Housing is not cheap. Rental property is at a premium because of the high demand from the military. The average house price is closing in on $100,000. With the low interest rates, it's cheaper to buy here than rent. Also the local economy is strong enough that there is no housing glut to drive down prices. They're building plenty of new places, but it's not keeping up with demand. I wouldn't call it "boom town" by any streatch but it is steady growth.
As for guns and stuff, there is an indoor shooting range, two outdoor ranges, a couple of gunshops, one of which specializes in assault weapons. A couple of the shops are class three dealers. There is a further two indoor ranges in the locale (Norfolk and Chesapeke) and some more gunshops. I don't know about any ranges on the peninsula, though I assume there's some. London Bridge Trading (tactical gear) is located in town to sevice the SEAL/USMC FAST market. Blackhawk Tactical Gear is in Chesepeke. With the even numbered SEAL teams, the USMC FAST, and god knows who else around here, getting deals on cool gear is a snap.
Please feel free to ask any specific questions.
Ross