Only in Texas...

In Utah, everyone hunts. I recall when I was little, there was an official school holiday for the deer hunt which was later renamed to something more politically correct like "Teacher Prep Day". Utahans like to get all dressed up in cammo, spray deer urine on them, and get enough snacks to last 4 months and then head out for a weekend of shoot first, look second. They then come home and put it all away until next year.

Texans are different. We have guns and we have them at all times. We don't really care about hunting or an particular occasion. It's just part of getting dressed: pants, shirt, shoes, socks, rifle, shotgun, side-arm, and boot-gun. All check.
We're the only state that has airport security for when you get off the plane. If you don't have a gun, we don't let you in. We'll issue to you.

One of my first activities and went to as a mutual leader was gun safety and shooting. They were going to have the youth go to "Especially for Youth" until the rumor got around that there were two kids in our church who were not bringing guns to seminary. The Bishop immediately stepped in, canceled the trip and we had the entire church go shooting.

Here are some typical magazines you'll find in a Texan home:




Being a transplant to Texas, we accept this (although we're not into guns - Steph's Kung-Fu moves are enough protection and she's registered as a weapon.) However, this week I was getting my hair cut and saw a magazine that made we think that perhaps we've gone a bit overboard:


Garden and Gun magazine?!?! I know fire-ants are bad, but are guns really needed? Ah heck, why not!

I do have this to say about Texas.

Every single morning, all school age kids are REQUIRED by law to say a pledge of allegiance to the Texas Flag. After which, and some what as an after thought, they say the pledge to the U.S. flag. During this time when other states are removing all religious symbols from government buildings for fear of lawsuits, Texas, just this year, changed their pledge from:

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible."
to
"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

Wasn't a single complaint (remember, we have guns). Don't mess with Texas.