can i sniff networks in other states

That depends one the meaning of "can":

• technically, you can (you are able to) sniff any Ethernet network to which you can physically connect your capturing interface, or any WiFi network your capturing WLAN adaptor is close enough to receive. You may use tools for remote capturing - one box, called "probe", is located on such a place that it can meet the requirements above, and either sends the captured frames to your other machine from which you control the capturing process and analyse the capture, or stores the captured data to a file which you retrieve later.

• legally, you can (you are allowed to) only sniff networks you own yourself or whose owner/administrator has granted you the permission to do so, or for which you have other legal grounds to do so. Being a citizen of the state where the network you are interested in is located is usually not sufficient to give you the right to sniff it.