Meanwhile, out in old Arizona....
 

Brandishing the 2nd Amendment is popular here. This week, a story broke that a state senator, during an interview, was showing a reporter her loaded gun, no safety and laser pointer at him.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2011/07/11/20110711arizona-lori-klein-transcript-on.html

Well now, that don't make a whole lot of sense. Detachable holster which you have to unsnap and carry with you. Wouldn't it make more sense to just carry the piece in a regular holster? I don't even want to think of what the weather is going to do to that leather!:eek: I foresee this clown walking down the side of the Interstate saying, "I know I heard it fall and hit the ground somewhere around here".

Patton would be proud.....

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/9167/pattonjeep1.jpg

Real gun. Real bullets. Fake bullet hole in fender. :rolleyes::D

Probably just pop the gun and holster off the bike and slide it over your belt, re-snap and you're good to go. :)

Don't forget this is the state that officially adopted the Colt 45 as the "state gun" 6 months after Gabby Giffords was shot.

Ahhh! THAT'S what that is! I thought it was an old seat mounting location.

Last year, I was driving from CA to Phoenix via the 40 then US 93. Needed some gas, so I got off the freeway onto old 66. Got gas, was hungry, stopped at a diner and bar type place that looked like the cantina from the first Star Wars.

At a certain point, the thought that it wasn't Halloween for another two months crossed my mind. Looked around. Why? Everyone was (kinda sorta) dressed up in "cowboy" clothes, and half the people were strapping guns of various types openly.

I've been to states with relaxed carry laws before -- Vermont, where you don't need a license to carry so long as the gun is bought legally comes to mind, but people in other states don't seem to be nearly as ostentatious about exercising their right to carry in public.

Seems to be a point of pride in AZ -- I'd liken it to making a habit of swearing in public just to test your First Amendment rights. It may be technically legal and Constitutional, but it would be considered rude in most places.

Most other states don't have the western-cowboy-gunslinger-outlaw history and culture that the Grand Canyon and other western states have.

Coming from a state that likely has the lowest gun ownership per capita (Hawaii) I have noticed that there's much more firearm violence and more incidents of law enforcement officers being shot or shot at than back in the islands. Of course, back in Hawaii, surfing violence was much more pronounced . . .

HAHA! Lived right around that area for 15 years. We considered guns and holsters fashion accessories!:D

Pretty leather work. It would look 100% better if they left out the fake bullets and the fake bullet hole in the fender. Not sure why someone would want to be so in-your-face with their weapon. Does not give a good impression, IMHO.

Let's not tar all Arizonans with the same brush. 90% of the people you see sporting weapons here are "out of towners" or "new" Arizonans from other states. They buy into this whole gunslinger/cowboy thing wholesale. They are the ones driving the big dually off road pickups with monster tires, loud exhaust, chrome bumper hitches, fancy trim packages and not a speck of honest dirt on the truck anywhere.

You get the old timers like El Chivito, yeah, he might pack a piece, when he needs to but he ain't wearing it just to wear it. I carry when I'm in the remote regions of the brush but I won't carry in town. The .22 rifle is always behind the back seat of the truck but it's for varmints (and no, State legislators are not legally considered varmints!:P).

Didn't AZ practically double in population since the 90s? So half the people there are "newcomers" at this point -- the old-time Arizonans must *love* that fact.

BTW - I'm not opposed to relaxed carry laws, but I find it rude and disconcerting to be in others' faces about it in populated places. Even in the "Old West", a lot of towns and bars had people check their guns at the door (which wouldn't work in the modern US due to liability reasons -- if someone got attacked and couldn't defend themselves: instant lawsuit).

How are things in Tucson? I fell in love with that place when I visited about 25 years ago. By far the prettiest dessert I've seen. Someone told me recently that you've seen a rise in crime. Is that true? I would be sorry to see that.

It sure isn't the town it used to be. You wouldn't recognize the place. It's all over grown now. They've built to the mountains in town and the old open area between Tucson and Picacho is almost gone. As a for instance, Ina Road is considered "in town" now, Houghton Road, is "near East side", there are houses all the way down to Rio Rico, there is no open area between Tucson and Catalina Junction and they've built sub divisions all the way down Ajo to Three Points.

We probably have an average amount of violence but the place is so much larger population-wise that the numbers have increased.