So, I just got back from my annual Texas vacation. They (we) have limited open carry, now, effective Jan 2016, iirc. Awesome.
What struck me funny was the overall attitude towards guns in Austin. A number of retail establishments had posted “no open carry allowed,” signs, which is their right. I just found it odd, because in one particular case, I had seen coyotes running around less than a mile from said establishment (it was an HEB). There are also bobcats, rattlesnakes, and possibly even ocelots and black bears. Plenty of reasons to walk around armed that have nothing to do with crime or politics.
Long gone are the days when every Billy, Bobby, and Jed had a 30.06 in the rear window of their pickups and a Derringer in their boot. When I was growing up in north Austin, there was never a question like “why do you need a gun?” We would meet up in the K-Mart parking lot (now part of the Lakeline Mall complex), load our guns into the Jimmy or Suburban, and head out to Georgetown or Lampasas or Leander or Burnet to go hunting. Nobody ever called the cops, that was just part of the culture. Spent a day in San Antonio, this trip, spotted several too-large-to-conceal prints, and was sad at the state of gun ownership in just another state that used to be its own proud nation.
Last week, we spent a couple of days caring for my step-brother’s pets, and became rather worried at one point when the cat hadn’t returned home after many hours. That was the day after we had all witnessed a coyote romping through the back yard. Last year, a large black and gold snake had slithered its way into my mom’s garage. Scared the shit out of my wife and eldest daughter. Based on the description, I assumed a rattler. I asked my mom for a gun, and she said they had got rid of them all. A neighbor came over with a couple of pistols, and he and I corralled what we eventually saw was the mama king, released her in the woods. This year, there was a rifle at the ready, though. Loaded, sitting right out in the open, buttstock on the floor, near one of the entry doors. My kids never asked about it, never touched it. That’s real gun control.
But, after 9 days of roaming Austin and other parts of Texas, I didn’t see a single person engaging in their newly restored right to open carry. That is the saddest part of the whole mess.
