And Speaking of Guns.....

This is great:

• 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.

Golly. Armed people, walking the halls of power in Texas, rubbing elbows with their elected representatives, amid school children touring government offices. No "wild west" scenarios. No bloody shoot-outs in the streets.

It sounds exactly like being a citizen of a free country and not the subject of a despotic dictator.