Dark Horses

CHILTON WILLIAMSON JR.

In the Twenties H. L. Mencken conducted a survey and discovered that the worst states in the Republic were Mississippi and Alabama. His criteria had to do with the level of culture and the relative intensity of Cracker religion. I do not remember where Mencken placed my adoptive home state of Wyoming, but a quick scan of Alan M. Gottlieb’s The Rights of Gun Owners (Caroline House, $5.95) convinced me that I live in one of the best. Wyoming, as I had suspected, stacks up very well when it comes to restrictions upon the ownership and use of firearms. The state constitution, for one thing, carries a guarantee: “The right of citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and of their state shall not be denied” (Art. 1, Sec. 24). A firearm possession permit is not required to possess a gun at home, or at work; a gun owner’s identification or permit does not have to be registered with the state police or a similar firearms-registration bureau.

CHILTON WILLIAMSON JR.

In the Twenties H. L. Mencken conducted a survey and discovered that the worst states in the Republic were Mississippi and Alabama. His criteria had to do with the level of culture and the relative intensity of Cracker religion. I do not remember where Mencken placed my adoptive home state of Wyoming, but a quick scan of Alan M. Gottlieb’s The Rights of Gun Owners (Caroline House, $5.95) convinced me that I live in one of the best. Wyoming, as I had suspected, stacks up very well when it comes to restrictions upon the ownership and use of firearms. The state constitution, for one thing, carries a guarantee: “The right of citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and of their state shall not be denied” (Art. 1, Sec. 24). A firearm possession permit is not required to possess a gun at home, or at work; a gun owner’s identification or permit does not have to be registered with the state police or a similar firearms-registration bureau.