Geojap:
I seriously recommend staying in CA. I'm current;y in Texas...it's no comparison.
This is exactly what I was talking about above. Cali folks be hatin' while in reality your kindred statesmen are moving here in droves to find jobs and escape the economic turmoil that is California. With no disrespect and an honest question, why are you here and why don't you leave? You do live in Belton, which isn't exactly the Garden of Eden as far as Texas is concerned. Why in the world did you get stuck there if you are so Cali-minded? The military?
I souund more disparaging in my previous post than I meant to be. I didn't mean to "be hatin." Yes, I am military. I apologize if I was more critical than I meant to be, but certainly from an objective standpoint you can see much more ignorant CA-bashing than the other way around. When has anyone ever had anything negative to say about TX on a gun forum? Ironic that you may have gotten defensive when you felt just a smidge of heat. I apolgize, I didn't mean anything overtly offensive, unlike most CA-bashing. My main issue was "fighting the good fight" for a very, very good cause of that was historical CA.
I honestly do love Austin (I actually tell people I'm from Austin because even though Waco is closer...honestly...). While I find it a little pretentious, I do think it is pretty much the oasis of Texas. Oops, ther I go again...I honestly love TX as a whole. I just think It's a little full of itself. And FYI, there are still infinitely more refugees moving into CA (from TX, included) than the other way around. CA culture is the way it is because its character has been diluted unlike any other place on the planet. TX is only starting to get this. Las Vegas is certainly feeling this now too. But all of those bad steretypes of CA? Products of non-natives. Gays move to SF (not that theres anything wrong with that)...hippies, etc. Its self-perpetuating cycle. CA has been the rbight, shining beacon for all for more than a century, from the expanding West, through the dustbowl migration, to dotcom rush, etc, etc. Refugees from Michigan, TX, etc, head west for the "better life," often ending up in CA looking fro everything to be provided for them. Culturally, it has led to the increase of the need for CA govt to "provide" for its new immigrants in the form of, among countless other things, restrictive gun laws. Actual Califonia natives are a lot like what Austinites try to label themselves--liberal (read, by some: libertarian). Imagine all the growth you've had in the last 10 years, 30 years from now. That is what is CA. End of the day, all those things you hate about CA laws? It's coming from CA constituents who moved there from YOUR states. You're unloading them on us, in a sense.
Lived in AZ, WA, KY, OK, OH and TX. TX is by far my favorite among those. But CA still has it beat, and I honestly cant see anyone with my experience being honest by saying otherwise. THe HUGE caveat here is the obtrusive laws. That is a HUGE caveat, mind you. I will even throw in ridiculous home costs, overcrowding in some areas, etc. But, again, all of these things are artificial changes brought about by non-Calfornians...its all a paradox. CA is great (with huge, growing problems)...people want to move there because it's great...thus adding to its problems.
On this gun forum, TX, contrary to the steretype, is still not the perfect garden of eden for gun ownership. I'd reserve that for states like AZ... but to each their own. Peace, bud. Honestly, our forefathers in CA have that star on our Bear Flag for a reason--we took inspiration in our little revolution from the Texans' own. Just FYI.