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In few places is the dominance of firearms more evident than in [New Braunfels] this Central Texas city of 105,000 about 35 miles northeast of San Antonio. New Braunfels was founded by German immigrants in 1845 at the confluence of the Comal and Guadalupe rivers. Settlers started a schuetzen verein, or shooting club, now among the oldest in the United States.

New Braunfels includes one of the top urban Zip codes in Texas for new handgun licenses per capita last year: About 213 per 10,000 people, according to state records; overall, the surrounding county had 155 permits issued per 10,000 people.

By contrast, most San Francisco-area counties had issued fewer than six concealed handgun licenses per 10,000 residents since 2012, according to the most recent California Department of Justice data from last year, although applications surged late in the year following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against local restrictions in New York, and California lawmakers responded earlier this month by passing a law that further restricts who can receive a permit.

New Braunfels is the seat of Comal County, which then-President Donald Trump won with about 71 percent of the vote in 2020, and where yard signs proclaim “Biden is the wurst” and “We don’t call 911.” But not all gun owners are Republicans or Trump supporters. Some say they’re libertarian, moderate, nonvoters, or liberals who voted for President Biden or lean left on social issues.

[Will] Moravits, a Republican precinct chair, voted for Trump twice and hopes to vote for him again. His Sig Sauer 1911 .45 caliber Texas edition handgun features a lone star emblazoned on the grip and the state outline engraved on the slide. Gun brand loyalties here are akin to affection for pickups: some favor Sig Sauer, others are Glock or “Colt for life.”

Moravits replaced his AR-15 with an AR-10, which fires larger ammunition, but still wears AR-15 “Come and Take It” t-shirts. His Ford Explorer has a sticker on the back with the word “Love” spelled out in weapons. The “L” is a handgun. The “E” is an AR.

Guns are so commonplace that they can slip Texans’ minds. Sitting at Moravits’s ranch house on the city’s historically Latino west side, Hector Rosales, Moravits’s brother-in-law, at first said he wasn’t a gun owner. Then he thought again.

“I do have a handgun — I forgot!” he said, later extracting a .22 Beretta in a zippered bag from a cabinet in his bedroom. Rosales, 59, a spice distributor and nonvoter, also has an old rifle, a .223 Remington. He said his parents, longtime Democrats, have two.

—  Molly Hennessy-Fiske in In Texas, Guns Are Everywhere, Whether Concealed or in the Open

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83 COMMENTS

  1. “Rosales, 59, a spice distributor and nonvoter, also has an old rifle, a .223 Remington.”

    A caricature of America. We are doomed with people like this.

    • Never mind wapo sending a karen correspondent to TX when there is a dead serious election for POTUS around the corner. The problem is not wapo when there are karen level gun owning politically inept disguntled bump stock blowbags still holding hands with democRats to bash Trump. Apparently to the Trump bashing blowbags the difference between joe biden and DJT is a coin flip. The difference between the two is night and day especially when it comes to the Second Amendment. Jim Crow Gun Control joe has had his boot on the neck of the 2A since day one and has not relented. Now joe and his demonic ilk have taken your taxpayer money and created an office of Gun Control led by America’s biggest Gun Control zealots…Clearly the Trump bashers on this forum are not the least bit concerned about that or any biden Gun Control.

      At this stage of the game the Trump bashing Gun Owner is a joe biden butt kisser. Those who appease Trump bashers with their Silence are just as bad.
      So to all who bashed Trump following his visit to…drum roll, The Firearm Component Manufacturer PSA…Cut your ignorant mealy mouth politically inept Trump bashing rhetoric that does nothing but get your useful idiot behinds applause from the Gun Control democRat Party.

      • Unless the election process is cleaned up it isn’t going to matter who really votes for who. They will just steal it like they did the last 2.

        • When democrats finally admit it … Elizabeth Warren(D) Says Hillary Clinton Rigged the Democratic Primary Election.

        • The process has been refined.

          More effective than a bunch of good ol’ boys hanging out at the polling place to deter those “other voters”.

      • Y’know Debbie. Your shit is getting kind of weak. I voted for Trump, twice, and my contempt for Biden runs back at least 25 years or so, when he FIRST tried to take away our guns. But your ass-kissing of Trump and your total derision of anyone who might possibly see a chink in his deification – even taking into account the massive anti-Trump media bias, is indicative of your inability to actually apply critical reasoning, even at the most elemental level.
        Talk about “blowbags”? Trumps juvenile, inane, and completely non-professional tweeting, from Day 1 of his presidency, is more than the proof needed that there’s something not right about the guy. His waffling on gun control – essentially stabbing gun owners in the back with his weaponizing of the ATF against bump stocks (yeah, he started it….) and not providing much in the way of any sort of gun owner support, despite the fact that it was US who voted him in, is telling. About all he did for the 2A was appoint a slew of Constitutionally-orient judges. I thank him for that. In other areas – border control, oil and gas development, he did okay. Lately, all the crap coming out about him is making it extremely difficult to keep making excuses for the man – he is seriously not presidential material anymore, although he was right for the country (sort of ) when he was in office.

        Of course Biden sucks. He sucks on many levels. In particular he sucks on gun control issues – The only favor he did gun owners in his recent startup of the Office of Screwing Over Gun Owners, Again, was putting Harris in charge. She sucks at not only the physical but the metaphysical level – but at least she’s so crudely incompetent that we can safely assume she’ll be at least as effective in this role as she was in encouraging the hordes of barbarians now storming our southern gates.

        But let’s turn to you. You are obviously unbalanced. Whether I agree with you at some level or not about gun rights, you are not doing any favors to yourself by your strident, over the top rants. I’d bet that 90% of those regulars on this forum zip right past your rants. Even Miner49 makes TONS more sense than you do. Call me what you will – I’ll take any insults from you as a badge of honor.

        • Oh, I dunno, Defens,

          Debbie Dimwit is definitely less erudite and linguistically facile than is MajorLiar, but she is LITERALLY a one-trick pony. Her every post is some variation on “all gun control is racist” (although, lately, she has been branching out into “if you don’t support Trump, you are a dirty Communist who takes it up the poop chute and sucks choad”). MajorLiar is all the way up to three repetitive, boring posts, (i) out of context examples of alleged Republican wrongdoing (without EVER, of course, addressing even a single example of contemporaneous, and far worse, Dimocrat defalcations), (ii) “all Republicans are bad”, and (iii) “the government dictating what guns you can have, where, and telling you what training you are REQUIRED to have (government-designed/approved training, of course), and what licenses you have to have, is a Good Thing!!”.

          MajorLiar at least gives you a choice of idiocies to laugh at and mock; Debbie One-Note (I guess, to be fair, lately she’s been ‘Debbie One-and-a-half-Note’), and dear Debbie struggles with the English language.

          But I agree, an insult from Debbie Dimwit is definitely a badge of honor. There are a few on this forum that Debbie has taken particularly silly exception to, and her responses to them (all some variation of her new “if you don’t unconditionally support Trump, you’re a Commie c*cks*cker”) become more unhinged, less rational, and less susceptible to actual interpretation, as she continues to slide down that slippery slope into Senile Joe level deranged dementia.

        • Lamp – I appreciated your comment! I really despise being part of a group (online or otherwise) where you can’t raise a contrary opinion – even for the sake of discussion – without those opposing piling on with fact-free intimidation. I get enough of that at home. I used to debate in high school and college, which unfortunately showed me that there are rational ideas on both sides of an argument, usually. It makes it difficult to even try to respond in an echo chamber where you need to toe the line (on either side) or get shouted down by the opposing side.

          Maybe Debbie is just a deranged chatbot?

        • Defens,

          Glad to be of service (to the extent I was). The sad part is, Debbie is “one of us”, but, in her warped world view, the only way you can be “US” is to adhere to the Gospel according to St. Debbie the Dimwit. She does have a few things right . . . and the poor ditz can’t get past that . . . kinda like the retard who finally learned to tie their shoes, and can’t cope with the idea that you have to put them on, first.

          Debbie CONSTANTLY attacks (in very nasty ways) people who AGREE WITH HER, but dare to have a few thoughts beyond “The Gospel According to St. Debbie”.

          AFAIAC, that’s a Debbie problem. No one ELSE on the board will give a flying fornication what Debbie Dimwit has to say, You don’t comment often, but when you do, your comments seem cogent.

          Kinda the definition of a useful comment – I am not obliged to agree, but I am impelled to take you seriously. Debbie? Not so much.

    • I am much happier having non voting people than having those who vote because their church, union, or city political representatives tell them so. Many people don’t understand politics, or don’t really care – they should NOT vote.
      As for them having a firearm at home, shows that they are happy exercising thier rights.

      • People often vote for/against personality and looks. Yes, it’s very shallow. Most high level politicians are charismatic in some way. That includes the Puppet before he became senile.

        • Dude,

          Personally having a little trouble remembering when Gropin’ Joe was EVER anything approaching ‘charismatic’ – his babbling lies were obvious from the time he was elected to Senate, and he is capable of selling a lie ONLY to the mentally-challenged (I’d love to play poker with Senile Joe – I’d walk away with a big ol’ chunk of those Xibucks, and wouldn’t have to soil my hands . . . much).

          Other than that, I totally agree with you – if you really parse through most pundits’ “analyses” of the candidates, they rarely address substantive policy issues.

          But being an ‘informed voter’ requires some effort, some honesty, and some ability to look beyond what people are telling you, and find out a few things for yourself.

        • The Puppet used to be a fast talking BSer. (Now he’s a slow talking, confused BSer.) He often joked around, and had about 5x the personality of someone like DeSantis or Hillary. It didn’t pain Joe to smile, unlike some of the other pols.

  3. “By contrast, most San Francisco-area counties had issued fewer than six concealed handgun licenses per 10,000 residents since 2012, according to the most recent California Department of Justice data from last year, although applications surged late in the year following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against local restrictions in New York, and California lawmakers responded earlier this month by passing a law that further restricts who can receive a permit.”

    Ok, lets just stop right there at the bias already.

    There is no ‘contrast’ or comparison with “most San Francisco-area counties” or any place in California and the reason is California either purposely and illegally and unconstitutionally delays or denies or hinders ability for a permit or even mere possession by a law abiding person. This ‘contrast’ comparison to Texas, or New Braunfels in Texas, or to any 2A friendly state (which California certainly is not) – is a false comparison of apples vs oranges.

    • “is a false comparison of apples vs oranges.”

      Perfectly fair, from her POV.

      She is of ‘The Elect’, while we are are the toothless, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, sister-fornicating hicks…

    • I’d say the problem lies with the government that only trusts <0.06% of it's citizens (subjects) to be armed. Something's not right there.

      • Governor Le Petomane,

        It isn’t just government who fails to trust citizens with firearms–it is a huge chunk of the population. THAT is why some states have such onerous and blatantly unconstitutional firearm laws–because the voters in those states want it that way.

        • After 2020 I can only place the odds of that at around 20%. Whole lotta corruption in blue states and cities.

      • Most likely doesn’t even trust those, either. They just were able to cough up “donations” to the proper candidate and/or official.

    • Would be interesting to compare the crime rate in the two areas. Surely, since more guns = more crime and violence, that poor city in TX must be a much more dangerous place than SF.

    • Regardless, “…fewer than six concealed handgun licenses per 10,000 residents since 2012…” want to bet on whether most or all of those permits were granted to big donors to local Democrat politicians or other insiders?

      • You’d probably lose that bet. I think the reference is to SF County itself, which until recently upheld a 20+ year tradition of refusing to issue CCWs. The last time I saw stats (for some reason the CaDOJ has stopped publishing them), SF had issued CCWs to four deputies/police officers who lived outside of city limits. San Jose, by contrast, is where the former sheriff got caught up in a controversy whereby her office “sold” CCWs to members of Apple’s security team in exchange for IPads.

        • The San Jose case is closer to the CA county in which I grew up. Donate big to the Sheriff’s re-election campaign, be one of the only non-cops in the county with a shiny new CCW.

    • Don’t forget Texans don’t need a permit to carry concealed in public. Permits are down due to legislation that made them unnecessary for most people. Her argument is flawed on many levels. The number of folks legally exercising their constitutional rights are greater than what her agenda wants to reflect.

      • And that’s unfortunate because now they are subject to the federal gun free school zone law, and also hampered in travel to some other states.

  4. “…and nonvoter…”

    LibSpeak for LAPR (Lawfully Admitted Permanent Resident) and / or those millions of persons from all around the world who are unlawfully or illegally present in the U.S.

    Non-citizens are currently prohibited from voting in national elections. It is the original Right granted to citizens and naturalized citizens to choose their leadership.

    Our most precious right is the Vote and the Democrats are waging a continual war against it under the guise of “fairness”, “equity”, “inclusion”…to fight so strongly against something as simple as Voter ID laws is to display your true intentions for all to see…the remaking of the U.S. in the (Marxist) image that Obama spoke of 15 years ago.

    • Old Guy in Montana,

      The term “nonvoter” could equally apply to the surprisingly large number of citizens who are legally able to vote and choose to NOT vote for various reasons.

      Here are a few of the reasons why “nonvoter” citizens purposely choose to NOT vote. They:
      — Are too lazy to vote.
      — Despise all candidates.
      — Think elections are rigged.
      — Don’t have enough information to choose a candidate.
      — Think their vote will not affect the outcome of the election.

      • @uncommon_sense(not to be confused with cents):
        Around here some do not vote because registering to vote will get you on a list for possible jury duty; but that is about the same as your first reason………..too lazy.

    • Tejanos are Spanish speaking Texans. There are a lot of them. Many have roots that go way before Mexico invited Americans to settle there. Many are satisified with the way things are/or do not think their vote will change things for the better.

      I agree with uncommon_sense here

      • @rt66paul

        I give you and “uncommon” credit for your clarification comments expanding the definitions for “nonvoter”…however, I notice that you chose to focus wholly on my limited definition of “nonvoter” and ignore my third paragraph entirely. The last paragraph is the crux you should be concerned about and formulating strategies for getting those classes of nonvoters you and “uncommon” agree on actively participating in the voting process.

        PS: my spouse is the first US born daughter of lawful immigrants who proudly earned their citizenship at the first opportunity the Law provided them. They wanted input into choosing the leadership of the United States. Aliens, in many jurisdictions, are tacitly encouraged to place unlawful votes. Citizenship was, and remains, the only lawful way to participate in US national elections.

        …an old man’s $0.02 worth

        • Old Guy in Montana,

          Your third paragraph is absolutely spot-on and presents a significant problem for our nation going forward. I am coming up blank on strategies to rectify that.

    • OG, my younger sister made it to her 60’s before a stroke killed her. It was credited to covid. She never voted. She was solidly against guns. My older sister has never voted and she is solidly against guns.

      Some people shouldn’t vote.

      • jwm,

        You bring up an extremely interesting point: are we actually better off (in terms of protecting our right codified in the Second Amendment) if those nonvoters continue to not vote? I suspect that a significant majority of nonvoters would vote “D” and thus we are better off (if my suspicion is correct) if they continue to not vote.

        Important note: it is entirely possible that a HUGE number of “nonvoters” responded to all of the anti-Trump kvetching and actually went to the polls in 2020 to vote … and voted Democrat. Thus the last election may be important evidence that we are better off if nonvoters continue to not vote.

        • I used to not vote and then I started voting, guess what I found out, my vote dont count.
          I’m voting again but it’s not going to matter.
          Our votes are a check on the morale of the troops, voting is up, good they still believe the lie. .giv would get pretty worried if come election day we all said fck it.

  5. Owning and/or buying guns is not a reflection of a persons politics. One way or the other.

    The fact that Trump has an “R” by his name does not mean he is ‘conservative’ or is pro2A. Thinking that is why so many people see Musk as Republican. In reality he’s more of an anti-Democrat. The problem here is that people get their definitions twisted around. AR does not mean assault rifle and rich people that own large companies are not really all that right leaning. You can say that Democrats are for the poor and Republicans are for the rich but saying that is a completely distorted and highly limited view of the way things really are.

    • “In reality he’s more of an anti-Democrat.”

      Anyone who believes in the rule of law, and believes in the Constitution of the United States is, by definition, anti-Democrat. I’ve been registered as Independent since the day I turned 18. And, yes, I’m anti-Democrat – have been since about 1990, when the Cartoons were occupying the White House.

      • I’m anti democrat so much I vote against them twice.
        how you ask?
        I’m a registered democrat and vote against the incumbent in the primary and I vote against them in the general.
        food for thought.

  6. I’m not understanding the relevance of this WaPo article except maybe to start labelling folks that own guns “weirdos” or “strange”? And, as others have pointed out, what the heck is the comparison with Commiefornia when even folks that don’t care one way or the other about guns knows they stifle gun purchases and permits? Texas is different than California..you think?

    • except maybe to start labeling folks that own guns “weirdos” or “strange”

      I’m pretty sure that’s the entire point of the loving, accepting, and inclusive Left.

  7. Yawn, yet another area where gun ownership is about as common as citizenship less a few felons. Texas is reindustrializing and attracting workers from areas where guns are frowned upon also from some experience in the region, but a little ways west where Mexican Cartels have been active for some time. Both good reasons to carry. I have relatives in the area and once helped a guy move back home from college and recall a 44 Magnum S&W on top of one of the boxes! Big whoop!

  8. It’s a good thing Oklahoma sucks because with all them gunms in Texas it might slide into the ocean before it capsizes.
    Texas Texas Texas.
    A hell of a lot of good the Alamo did

    • If OK sucks so much how come so many intersections have a dedicated lane just for turning to go there?

  10. Yeah, a guy can forget a particular gun, just like he can temporarily forget that he has a torque wrench, or a weed eater. That’s because guns aren’t a big deal.

    The big deal, is criminals, and politicians who won’t do their job. Virtually every office holder in America is sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, from county sheriffs, on up, and some offices even lower ranked.

    We need politicians to do the jobs they are sworn to do, so that guns are no longer a real concern to anyone.

    Criminals, and politicians. But, that is kinda redundant.

  11. Yeah this is a nothing burger “post”. I do have a 1st cousin who lives in nearby Wimberly,Texas. And other cousin’s in Oklahoma possum🙄🙃And have no idea if anyone’s owns gats…

    • Don’t get bent out of shape if the SCotUS elects to simply take a pass on that until the Second Circuit decides to weigh in…

      • About what I expect actually, more hoping it lights a fire under the 2nd circuit’s ass on their current unrelated (by case and specific subject) caseload.

    • I wish the article would have at least identified the case. As far as I know, there are no final decisions for which cert is being sought. Instead, there is a motion pending for review of a stay pending review issued by the 2d Circuit of (several) trial court orders issuing TROs of the NYS CCW law. The case is fully briefed and argument has been had, but no decision has been issued, and undoubtedly the 2d is dragging its feet. Just as Maryland is dragging its feet on the constitutionality of that state’s assault weapons ban after a remand from the Supreme Court after Bruen.

      • I know it wasn’t from the batch the 2nd is sitting on but not sure which of the later ones. I will see if there is a case name as we hear more as most of what we are seeing is about the governor bitching about maga republicans or some such nonsense being behind the opposition to her laws.

  13. Long memories. This was a very Union area of Texas during the Civil War and the Confederate government attempted to wipe it out. That might explain the lingering mistrust of government and the large number of CCWs.

  14. “… overall, the surrounding county had 155 permits issued per 10,000 people.”

    That is one in every 64 people–an extremely low rate.

    In my state about one in every EIGHT people (who are age 21 or older) have concealed carry licenses. And even if you distort that number for the entire population (including people under age 21 who cannot legally acquire a concealed carry license), that still means about one in every 13 people have a concealed carry license.

    And there is one county in particular in my state where about one in every FIVE people age 21 and older have concealed carry licenses.

    Texas in general–and that county specifically–have a LOT of catching up to do.

      • Good point. It sure is hard to say.

        My best guess is that the journalist used data from 2021 or 2022 before Texas’ recent permitless carry law became active. If that is correct, then her numbers could very well be accurate.

    • Florida is one-in-10 permitted, but is now permit-less, so who really knows at any one time.

      I know quite a few old-timers over the years down here that carried *before* there were permits in 1986 (?)…

    • That is how many people were issued CCWs this year out of 10,000 people. How many already had permits? How many people just take advantage of the new constitional carry laws there?

      • rt66paul,

        Oof. I re-read the relevant section of that article about three more times after reading your comment and now I agree with your interpretation. That means my analysis above (with respect to the numbers in Texas) are wrong.

        Thank you for the correction.

  15. To translate what the author says into normal speech: where people are free from tyranny they have arms and where they only have the “freedom” to think what the socialists tell them to, they don’t. True enough, but if you go for a walk in San Francisco, watch where you step since people are encouraged to feel free to crap on the sidewalk.

  16. M0derated again call me W0rd Un!mpressed

    How much time does TTAG have to spend undoing the WordPress leftist censorship?

  17. “In few places is the dominance of firearms more evident than in [New Braunfels] this Central Texas city of 105,000…

    New Braunfels includes one of the top urban Zip codes in Texas for new handgun licenses per capita last year: About 213 per 10,000 people, according to state records…”

    Ok, so that’s 2,236.5 in a city of 105,000. That means there are 102,763.5 without a firearm.

    “In few places is the dominance of firearms more evident than in [New Braunfels] this Central Texas city of 105,000.” > is a false statement. As was pointed out to me by my now 7 year old nephew ….. It is not ‘more evident’ there is a ‘dominance of firearms’ in New Braunfels, in fact it is more evident, by your own numbers, that the dominate factor is people in New Braunfels would not have a firearm.

    • “New Braunfels includes one of the top urban Zip codes in Texas for new handgun licenses per capita last year: About 213 per 10,000 people, according to state records…””
      The problem here is that Texas doesn’t actually issue licenses for handguns.
      it does issue licenses to CARRY a handgun, which is not the same thing. (And such a license is no longer needed in Texas.)
      This means that this person’s characterization of the ownership rate of handguns is based on false data.
      Not to be unexpected in such “journalism.”
      The immediate comparison to California concealed carry permits is also faulty, since she describes the Texas data as handgun permits, but calls her California data points concealed carry permits, while expecting her target readership to equate the two. Typical anti-gun tactic: use two different data sets to somehow create equivalency.
      Sad thing is, a lot of people will fall for her dishonesty.

      • “The problem here is that Texas doesn’t actually issue licenses for handguns.
        it does issue licenses to CARRY a handgun, which is not the same thing. (And such a license is no longer needed in Texas.)
        This means that this person’s characterization of the ownership rate of handguns is based on false data.”

        Of course. Its obvious. Its just one of the anti-gun agenda bias tricks to feed the anti-gun cult and amplify something that doesn’t exist by making it up.

    • Now, how about we compare the murder rate between New Braunfels and the bay area? Let’s do Oakland, I bet that gun control utopia is one of the safest cities in the nation, right?

  18. “WaPo Sends a Correspondent Deep Into the Heart of Central Texas…” and, was never seen again. Texans know how to utilize those vast desolate areas and shovels…..and Karens.

  21. I wonder in San Francisco, do they sweep the sidewalks or scrape them?
    Probably doesn’t matter for what’s clean today gets trashed tonight.

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