In Impromptus today, I talk a little about Arizona and its political culture — this takes off from a piece I have in the current NR. Included in my column (as in the piece) is a discussion of guns. You remember what sparked the latest national controversy concerning Arizona: Outside the Convention Center in Phoenix, when President Obama was speaking, a group of Second Amendment enthusiasts staged a protest — bearing their arms openly, as they are allowed to do in Arizona. The New York Times came down on the state and its gun-bearers very hard. Arthur Frommer, the travel guru, said he would personally boycott Arizona, and might encourage others to do so as well.

As I say in my column, the gun issue is very much a cultural one. In Ann Arbor, where I grew up, we never saw a gun, except possibly on policemen. Guns were considered scary and wrong, almost always. In other places, guns are perfectly natural, perfectly non-scary.

Well, this issue of guns has provoked a fair amount of mail today, as you might imagine — and I’d like to share with you two samples. A man from Tucson writes,

Last Saturday, we had the annual dinner of an Arizona gun-rights group. The attire was “tasteful open carry.” About 70 percent carried open at the meal (the rest probably carried concealed). Some interesting sights, including one short lady with a long-barreled Smith & Wesson Model 29, .44 Magnum. It went from her waist to her knee.

Did you catch the lingo? (Maybe you know it already.) “She carried open, he carried concealed.” Here’s the second letter:

Hi, Jay:
My wife and I spent some time in Williams, Ariz., the small community just west of Flagstaff known as “The Gateway to the Grand Canyon.” Next door to the coffee shop we frequented for its great home cookin’ and amazing pies was a store run by a retiree couple who had thought to just live there but got bored and opened up a business to run during their remaining years. Actually, this is two businesses in one shop, reflecting the couple’s respective hobbies and passions.
I don’t know for sure, but this must be the only shop on earth that features the following two product lines: guns (his hobby) and Avon collectibles (hers). So you have hunting rifles and handguns, and these dainty little bottles, figurines, and so forth. The guns and the collectibles sit side by side, on the shelves, nice as can be.

Nice!