Encore un paradoxe texan

Austin est classée troisième des villes les plus sures des Etats-Unis. C'est étonnant. Selon l'Austin Amerivan Statesman, les chiffres de la police montrent une diminution de 15.9% des vols.. Ce chiffre à lui seul permet de faire baisser le chiffre moyen de la criminalité à Austin, même si les choses plus sérieuses comme les sexual assaults, murders or property crimes augmentent... Eh oui, on montre la réalité comme on la souhaite...
La liste des villes safe montre Honnolulu premier, suivit de San Jose et Austin... Pas si mal, même si....
Meme si le Texas est toujours l'état qui compte le plus d'armes par habitant...
Extraits d'un article du Houston Chronicle :

"In rural portions of the state, from the rough-and-tumble oil towns of West Texas to the desolate badlands near the Mexican border, to the bayous of Southeast Texas, the common assumption is that everyone owns a gun.

The average household probably has at least one firearm, whether it's kept in the bedroom or a shotgun rack, according to Jake Brisbin, the executive of Presidio County and a gun owner since childhood. He knows his county well through his work and his wide knowledge of the community.

State statistics show that 147,819 Texans have permits allowing them to carry concealed weapons. But that does not reflect the true number of gun owners, says Jim Brown, legislative director for the Texas State Rifle Association.

"If you take 17 million people in Texas and multiply that by about three,you've probably got that many guns," he says, basing his estimates on conversations with people throughout the state.

Many Texans feel at ease with guns. "I think that most people who own firearms enjoy the sense of security," says Douglas Barlow, a criminal defense attorney.

Texans have been permitted to carry concealed weapons since January 1996, so long as they are licensed by the state Department of Public Safety.

Early settlers usually owned several guns because they wanted one gun in each room.

Hallie Stillwell, one of the first women ranchers in West Texas, wasn't at all abashed when her appalled mother questioned keeping shotguns where the children could reach them.

In her autobiography, I'll Gather my Geese, Stillwell recalls what she told her mother. "When you need to use a gun, there isn't time to look for cartridges or load it. The gun should be already loaded or it'll be too late."

Many Texans still live by that rule. "Even though maybe the threat is not there as much, there is a carryover effect from that history," Brisbin says. That's why Texans often are puzzled by the controversy surrounding gun ownership, he said.

"I'm not paranoid," Brisbin, 49, said. "I just believe in being prepared."

Dozens of Texans interviewed share his opinion. Although their weapons are used primarily for hunting and target practice, residents of this state have been vocal at the statehouse about protecting their right to use a gun to defend life and property.

Randy Leger, who owns a gun shop and shooting range, has lost faith in the justice system. Police officers arrive only after a crime has been committed and the courts aren't keeping criminals where they belong, he said.

Douglas Barlow is a criminal defense attorney in Beaumont. His family has been in Southeast Texas since the late 1800s, when his grandmother opened a saloon here.

"I think that most people who own firearms enjoy the sense of security of knowing that they're able to defend themselves if necessary. (That feeling) is probably pretty consistent across the state of Texas and in the South in general," Barlow said.

"I was raised with hunting as a primary sport, and I've probably got a small arsenal. It really isn't a big deal to me."

Nor is it to Beaumont resident LinMarie Garsee, who said, "I've carried a gun all my life.

"My grandfather was a gunsmith, so I grew up knowing how to clean guns, how to put them back together," she says.

When a man armed with a screwdriver broke into Garsee's house and demanded money five years ago, her instinct was to get to a telephone and her gun.

Garsee humored the man, telling him she would look in the bedroom for money. Instead, she called 911 and put a .25-caliber gun in her robe pocket.

When the man saw Garsee return with the gun, "He freaked," she says gleefully. He questioned her sanity.

"I said, `Yeah, I might be crazy, and you never know when this gun is going to go off.' "

The gun didn't go off, but the man did, in police custody.

Garsee's gun ownership isn't unusual. Nearly 20 percent of the state's concealed-weapons permits have been issued to women.

Texans' reliance on guns has been further nurtured by today's crime rate, says Al Linzy, owner of Triple L horse farm in rural Southeast Texas. The boisterous, outgoing Linzy teaches the concealed weapons course required for those who want permits to carry guns.

At a recent "combat poker" party, Linzy and several of his former students explained why Texans continue to feel a need to own guns.

Much of the Old South mentality still exists, says Joy Perdue, who lives in Hamshire, a farming town 70 miles northeast of Houston. Remnants of the distrust evoked by the Civil War and Reconstruction still linger, she says.

"If we give up our guns, what's to keep our military from coming in again?" she asks, referring to old movies in which Union soldiers demolish and loot plantations.

"Nobody's going to invade my space," interrupts her husband, Charles.

Residents of the more central portions of the state tend to be a bit more discreet about their guns. Austin, for example, has a reputation as the state's liberal city. There are native Texans living in that city who loudly protest the prevalence of guns.

Police officers in relatively conservative Dallas and Fort Worth say residents they've come in contact with, while attached to their guns, are less likely to openly discuss weapons.

Ted Gray, 74, a longtime rancher in West Texas, carries a gun with him, even though he has since moved to town. "The first thing I did when I arrived in West Texas, I bought a Winchester," Gray says. "I felt it very necessary to have guns. I always carried one and I got one in my car right now."

Gray has pulled his gun several times. "I got an old man stealing calves one time," he said.

Another time, he drew his gun in an attempt to get payment from a cattle trader who owed him money.

Many years ago, Gray served on a jury that heard the case of a man who was accused of illegally carrying a pistol. Gray recalls:

"I asked everybody, `Are there any of y'all who don't carry a gun?' There wasn't anybody who didn't carry a gun, so we just turned him loose."

Ca me fait un peu droid dans le dos, quand même....
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