GUNS, GUNS, AND MORE GUNS…Hey, it’s Tex-ass

 

I’ve been around guns most of my life.  Years ago, I carried a pistol while running in the pre-dawn hours after hearing that women runners were being snatched off the street and raped.  Did I use the gun?  Hell, yes.  One morning, I heard a man's heavy footsteps chasing me; I stopped, turned around, and confronted him with a small pistol.  When I yelled for him to get the f*** away from me, he threw his arms in the air and ran away as fast as he could in the other direction.  I thought for a minute that he would have a heart attack; if he had, it wouldn’t bother me.

 

More recently, I kept a shotgun near my front door after being threatened online by a man belonging to the Collin County Republican Party.  His Facebook page was literally “loaded” with pictures of automatic weapons.  He took offense to my political posts and commented that he knew where I lived and that all “libtards” deserved to die.  The local police did a great job patrolling my house for two weeks, but I figured I should be prepared if he appeared at my front door.

 

I admire Australia for its no-guns policy. I believe in self-defense but don’t need any military weapon to defend myself.  This country would be better off without guns, but we’ve gone too far to turn back now.

 

By moving to Austin, I decided to live in a more progressive town where people were saner.  Since living here, I’ve yet to see little, low-IQ men driving pickups with a rifle in a gun rack hanging in the back window and a Trump flag waving in the truck's bed. 

 

A large group of us were celebrating a fellow resident’s birthday last Sunday at the Longhorn Steakhouse. We’re a harmless bunch of old folks with much less time ahead of us than behind us.

 

Imagine my surprise when a man with a holstered gun was seated next to our table.  He was by himself, dressed in jeans, with long dirty hair, a full untrimmed beard, and an old cowboy hat.  I felt better when a woman and two teenage girls joined him, but why would the restaurant let him enter with a gun?  How does anyone know if this is a good guy or a nutcase?  How many more shootings do we have to endure before this madness stops?  In Texas, people are now permitted to carry guns openly without a permit or having to go through any screening or training.  This is a nightmare for law enforcement and places all of us at risk.

 

I contacted the restaurant after this incident and advised them not to permit guns.  I doubt that I will ever hear from them.  In the meantime, I will never again darken their doors.  

 

Their food is mediocre anyway.



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