Free Republic

Escaped_from_NY was my first choice, but it was already taken. I had to come up with an alternate. It’s official: TrappedInNY is now FreedFromNY. (And very thankful to be so:-)

I have one in mind as long as it’s not already taken. I’ll post my “conversion” once I have the new name locked down (I want to keep my history, so it won’t be as easy as just registering a new name.)

Gaffer - sadly, I do believe you’re right. The disease is spreading throughout the country, but I figure I’ll get some good years down here before it overcomes Georgia. I spent years fighting the politics in NY, well before the unSAFE Act was a gleam in little Andy Cuomo’s eye. I still stay plugged into the fight up there, but I’m done slamming my head into that particular brick wall. I did feel a small bit guilty for abandoning the front line up there, but I got over it as soon as I had my first whiff of freedom down here. As far as I’m concerned, NY can go the way of Detroit. They want it, they can have it. And I hope they choke on it.

There HAS been a lot of push back from gun owners in NY, but the media can’t be bothered to report on it because it doesn’t fit their narrative. On 2/28 (a bitterly cold, rainy Thursday), between 12,000 & 15,000 people gathered in Albany to protest the unSAFE Act. You probably didn’t hear a word about it (or, if you did, it was complaints by NYS about the grass that was trampled by the protestors & how much that would cost the taxpayers to replant.)

Resolutions against the unSAFE Act have been passed in almost all counties in the state & numerous local sheriff’s offices have spoken out against it. Again, the silence in the media has been deafening. Here’s a link to the resolutions against the act (and the handful that support it): http://www.nysaferesolutions.com/

A number of lawsuits have been filed, but who knows how long those will take. One has already been thrown out (although that one was the flimsiest of the lot).

I attended 2 Albany protests (including the one on 2/28, taking time off work to do so). But I’m done - I moved to Georgia at the beginning of June & I’ll never live in NY again. My only regret is that it took me so long to make the move.

(I just remembered - I still need to get my FR screen name changed because I’m no longer TrappedinNY:-)

I keep my promises - we will not be seeking to change your state. That is one thing that I can guarantee.

I don’t think I have much of a “NY” accent - it’s more generic, since I grew up in Central NY (which, by the way, has more in common with the south than it does with downstate). Of course, my accent is still a far cry from southern, so I know I’ll stand out. But my husband is born & raised on Long Island - I think I need to get him some speech classes.

And thanks to everyone for the suggestions on neighborhoods. My office will be in Tucker, so I’m looking toward the northeast of Atlanta for a home. I recognize many of the town names that you’re mentioning, from all of the online research I’ve been doing over the past few weeks. But it’s good to hear from people who know the towns personally, for a real perspective.

I plan to tell people I’m a political refuge (which is the truth). I’ll be working 20 miles NE of Atlanta, and I have no need to go into the city itself unless I choose to do so (kind of like my current relationship with NYC, except in Atlanta, I’ll be able to drink a big gulp. While carrying.)

I know quite a few people at our Atlanta location already, and I’ve visited the area a few times over the years. I had a choice between Tampa & Atlanta, and I went with my gut - the people I know from Atlanta are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Great people, my husband loves grits, I love biscuits, and I’m determined to learn to slow my pace down & smell the roses. I know the traffic is like the 7th circle of hell, so I plan to choose my home carefully. I also know that some areas have serious crime issues, so I’m going to be careful to select a neighborhood with a lower crime rate, surrounded by neighborhoods with lower crime rates (to slow down the creep). Where I live on Long Island, I have MS13 gang members living down the street from me. So I think I’m good....

There’s a group that challenged the license restrictions up in Westchester - that case has been working its way through the courts for quite a while. I’m figuring I’ll be too old to even handle a .22 by the time that one finally reaches the end of the line, legally.

I didn’t expect to be looking to leave NY quite this early, but we just can’t take it anymore. We haven’t decided on the exact state yet, but we’re leaning toward the southeast. When we finally get out of NY, I’ll be singing it from the treetops. And my screenname will change from “TrappedInNY” to “EscapedFromNY”:-)

It’s a nonresident Utah concealed carry, which means that you are allowed to carry if you’re in Utah (understanding that you’re bound by the Utah laws when you’re there). The license includes reciprocity with a number of other states, as do most licenses - in fact, with a MN carry license, you may already have more reciprocity than you realize.

The problem for those of us in NY is — NY doesn’t really play nice with other states. And downstate NY doesn’t even play nice with upstate NY. This whole place is dysfunctional. So despite the fact that I’ve completed numerous firearm courses here, without the Utah (or similar) license, I have no reciprocity anywhere.

The Utah license requires the completion of a Utah-specific training course (which must be taught by an instructor certified by the state of Utah to provide the course). Fingerprints are required, of course, for a background check. If you’re interested, you can probably do a search in your area for an instructor. But again, it might not even be necessary in your case - you should look into what states you already have reciprocity with first.

For me, I’m thinking it’ll help when I finally escape from NY, provided I move to one of the states with the Utah reciprocity. Another advantage is for people who travel a lot - there was a couple in our class who had just retired. They were selling their home & then planning to travel the country in an RV. They wanted to keep their handguns for protection, and having that license means that they’ll be able to carry in quite a few of the states that they might wind up in.

I agree with the stupidity of the LI pistol licenses. It infuriates me that I can only carry to & from the range (especially after waiting 38 weeks for the darn thing in the first place). What good does that do me? My upstate sister, on the other hand, has full carry (as we all should) - so if she were to visit me on Long Island, she’s able to carry here while I still can’t. I still love shooting my pistols, though, so it was worth it to me to get the license.

I love photography & used to enjoy going to the arboretum & beach during the off season to take pics (especially early in the morning, when no one else is around). But once those bodies started popping up along the south shore beaches a couple of years ago, I realized just how vulnerable I am out there - so I’ve given up those early morning photography walks. If I could carry, it would even the odds - but my life is apparently not as valuable as Bloomberg’s or the other “favored ones”.

My husband & I are trying to get out of NY by the end of the year. We’ve had it. (To get us through the interim, we just completed the Utah Concealed Carry course, so we can at least carry in a number of other states - not just our own.)

LIF is Long Island Firearms (www.longislandfirearms.com). I just became a gun owner a couple of years ago, and I found the site when I was researching how to get my pistol license, etc. It’s an really good site for info on all gun-related (and other outdoor-related) stuff, and if you join as a member, then there’s additional benefits like range meetups, ammo alerts, etc. It’s also become a good source for gun-related political info (as I’m sure all NYS gun organizations have) since the unSAFE Act was hatched. They arranged a bus for the 1/19 Albany protest (and they’re getting another together for the 2/28 one).

I didn’t realize you’re a female gun owner. So am I (and my sister, still upstate, just earned her 1st-level NRA instructor training this past summer.) Now we’re trying to get our other sister to give it a shot (pun intended:-)

VermiciousKnid - as a Long Islander, you wouldn’t happen to be a member of LIF, would you?

I grew up about in central NY (about 40 miles southeast of Syracuse) - great people up there (and beautiful countryside)! I ended up moving to Long Island for career opportunities, but even with the ocean, it can never compare with upstate. Believe it or not, there are a lot of gun owners down here & we’re all equally enraged over this legislation. But it doesn’t appear they’re even going to hold a “Q & A” session down here, because as downstate gun owners, we’re completely invisible & totally outnumbered by the sheep. Oh well, we’ll just have to keep traveling up to Albany for the protests.

Is there a pool going yet on what’s going to prevent her from testifying this time? I’ll put $20 on ... the flu?

This reminds me of shark attacks. There was one summer a few years ago when it seemed like they were reporting one shark attack per week. It wasn’t that sharks had suddenly decided humans are tasty & begun going on a rampage, but you couldn’t turn the TV on without hearing another news teaser about it. The topic had caught public’s eye, so the media was scouring the globe for more attacks to feed the frenzy. There may some other reasons here as well, but I’m still reminded of the summer of shark attacks.

The crowd at the NYS capitol in Albany yesterday. I rode a bus up from Long Island with 56 other downstate gun owners (and a bunch of others from area area drove up). I'd estimate the crowd at a few thousand at its peak. And yes, it was COLD!

I’m already seeing some initial steps in this direction. I don’t know that any lawsuits will succeed in NY, but they will be filed. (We’ve been trying the Legal angle for a while in NY - the liberal judges make it difficult, but we keep trying. For instance, there’s a case in Westchester that challenges the downstate requirement of “just cause” for a licensed gun owner to carry. It’s been going through the courts for quite a while, step by step. The latest ruling was against the plaintiffs, but that wasn’t a surprise & it’s now being appealed.)

According to the Facebook event, the NY rally starts at 12, at the NYS Capitol building on State St. I’m riding a bus up, through an organization I belong to called Long Island Firearms - our original bus is filled so we’re trying to see if we can get enough people together for a 2nd. If you’re on Long Island & interested in riding the bus, there’s info on the LI Firearms website (www.longislandfirearms.com).

This protest is supposed to be occurring in all states on Saturday. There’s a lot of info available on Facebook, for each state.

I hear what you’re saying, and I understand it. Hell, I don’t want to move to a state that’s full of New Yorkers either. But what most people don’t realize is that there are a lot of New Yorkers who are very conservative, and we’ve been banging our heads against the wall for years. We stay for a variety of reasons - my main reason is that my parents are elderly (I hate writing that) & I don’t know how much longer they’re going to be around. They still live in Central NY (which my conservative father loves), and I want to remain nearby. Right now, they’re a fairly short drive away. But last night’s action really was the last straw for me - planes fly into Central NY too.

A lot of conservative New Yorkers DO try to make a difference. We call & write our “representatives”, we volunteer for conservative campaigns, we attend town hall meetings, we protest (my husband & I drove to DC for the March for Justice in the late ‘90s & the Tax Day Tea Party protest a couple of years ago, we’ve protested locally, and we’re heading to Albany this Saturday for the Guns Across America rally. Which, incidentally, can no longer help NY - but we’re trying to make our voice heard on a national level, for the remaining states that still have a chance.)

I know we all look alike, but please don’t automatically lump us in with the idiots who have destroyed this state. There are more of us than you realize, but we’re dwarfed by the huge population in NYC.