Security is newly tightened at the Texas Capitol, but plenty of gun-toting visitors can breeze right through.
Concealed handgun license holders walk through a special lane marked "CHL Access" around, and not through, the metal detectors put in place last year after a man fired shots outside the statehouse.
Schoolchildren and tourists, meanwhile, have to walk through metal detectors and put their bags and keys through scanners. One of the busiest times is now, when the legislature, which meets biennially, is convened.
It sounds exactly like being a citizen of a free country and not the subject of a despotic dictator.