I’d learned about Free State Project from advertisements in the Libertarian Party newspaper and tried to find employment in NH after I finished school in 2004. Unfortunately, as I was just starting out my career, I had to take what I could get in terms of employment and ended up living and/or working in the statist dystopias of NJ, CT, and NY.
During this time, I became increasingly frustrated with the overbearing reach of the government and the massive support of collectivism in the Tri-state area, particularly as the cost of living rose tremendously due to the “tax and spend” habits of the state. Also, Bloomberg started pushing his soda bans, his political advertisements with his “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” propaganda, and his statement that government “has the right to infringe on your freedom”.
I was living in CT and commuting to NYC for work, both due to the extreme cost of living in NYC and to keep my 2nd Amendment right which NYC refuses to recognize. The commuting time was horrible (4 hours a day) and the limited 2A rights that were respected in CT were suddenly taken away in 2013 with an unconstitutional “assault weapon ban.” This transformed thousands of peaceful citizens into felons if they did not register their guns. This was the last straw for me especially as this particular legislation is so vaguely written that an “assault weapon” is considered any weapon that can “accept a detachable magazine of over 10 rounds”, basically covering every modern firearm. One of the most alarming warning signs of the state’s overreach was when I went to a Connecticut Citizens’ Defense League gun rights rally on April 20th, 2013 in Hartford, and saw a policeman on the balcony of the state building slowly videotaping and photographing the protesters. All of this made me want to move out of Connecticut as soon as possible.
I wasn’t sure if I’d manage to get to New Hampshire as I had had trouble finding employment when I tried many years ago. I was active on the FSP forum for a few months and visited Manchester to explore New Hampshire for myself. While visiting, I met a few Free Staters who easily sold me on moving to enjoy the freedoms here. At the time, I was in the process of interviewing for a job that had significant travel but allowed me to live anywhere near an airport. Although they had wanted to place me out of NYC, I told them I would only accept the job if I could live in Manchester, NH. I pointed out that Manchester has its own airport and would cut their travel reimbursement costs as it would be far more expensive to fly out of LGA. They were sold on the idea and I was suddenly free to escape!
Soon after I moved, I had the enjoyable experience of calling up Connecticut Firearms Licensing to inform them I was no longer a CT resident and that the registration no longer applied to me. Having gone through this ordeal, I am determined to help out and do whatever small part I can to ensure that the loss of personal freedoms in CT and NY will never happen here in New Hampshire! I’ve realized that liberty is precious, and can’t be taken for granted in our time.
Since I’ve been here, I’ve met so many wonderful people who are fighting for our freedoms. I have fond memories of participating in a drive to stop police militarization in Concord, protesting Bloomberg’s imported anti-gunners on the steps of the Capitol, and assisting with Liberty Forum (Merav – you are awesome!). The best thing is that there are enough liberty people here to actually push for positive change and help create a better world free of aggression.
Hans moved in May 2013.