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A little while ago I was completing a purchase in Office Depot when a man joined the line at the register. Something caught my eye - the baseplates of two 1911 magazines in a tooled leather carrier on the man's western-style gun belt. I continued to examine the gentleman's dress - cowboy boots, western-cut slacks, dress shirt, four-in-hand tie, silverbelly cowboy hat, and a little silver wagon wheel star on his chest. "Hey," I proclaimed, "you're a Texas Ranger!" "Yes, I am," he affirmed, seemingly pleased that I had noticed. He turned out to be one of our three local Rangers, Royal McMullin, a nice guy and polite enough to let me shake his hand and jaw a bit without showing any annoyance whatsoever. Never did get a good look at his sidearm, but from the mags I'm sure it was a 1911. Another Ranger I met recently also had a one on his belt.

We occasionally see 'em at Starbuck's, and after reading Joaquin Jackson's two books, I've thought about askin' what they're carryin' in the trunks of their state cars.