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Bird of Prey wrote:I've got cameras all over my property so the only one taking a ride in a police car will be gun-hater.

That's a good setup I wish I had myself. I'm assuming all cameras are logged on a central device? What system do you use for archiving the recordings? Typically, if something happens, how far can you look back?

Bird of Prey wrote:Those days aren't gone at all! My father and I still drive home with deer strapped to the hood of his truck and everyone sees us unloading the arsenal of rifles. In the 25+ years of doing this, we've never once received a complaint or anything. Just about everyone I know has at least one gun in their home and most drive around with them. I know it's frowned upon by most people here or other gun forums but the Rio Grande Valley is still "old school" enough that if someone says they have a gun with them, most people's response is, "So what?" I guess the "no no's" of telling someone about your gun are only relevant in other parts of the world. In the good ol' RGV, law enforcement encourages gun owning!

It's good to hear you haven't had any problems but I'd still urge caution when it comes to something like displaying an "arsenal of rifles." I don't think that's the kind of information you want to get around; it seems like you could be making yourself a target. I can envision a neighbor, perhaps a kid who thinks it's cool, innocently telling a friend that the guy down the street has a whole bunch of guns, and word getting passed along to less innocent parties who might target you for a burglary based on an exaggerated expectation of what they can steal.

Bird of Prey wrote:I'm more of an "Ounce of prevention" kinda guy. I'd prefer they know so they might not want to try anything then to have them feel confident enough to do something stupid. If I'm a BG, I'm hitting the house that doesn't have someone walking around with a gun in the front yard. My front yard is the closest I can get to open carry in Texas! Besides, I've been doing it for over a year now and never had any problems.

I don't know.....it may provide an ounce of prevention, but what I'd be concerned about is the leverage you may be allowing an anti-gun nut neighbor or visitor to the neighborhood. If such a person wants to cause you problems and accuses you of threatening them, or waving your gun around, or just scaring the children in the neighborhood, I think you're more likely to have problems refuting the charges if you're carrying the gun in the open. Someone driving by could call the police and say "there's a man walking around outside with a gun." My son knows someone who had the police called on him by someone who saw him clearing his guns through a kitchen window --a Yankee who thought it was illegal for people to own handguns.

If it's concealed then no one has anything to report in the first place. It seems to me that running into a jerk in the neighborhood is a more likely event than a deterred attack. That said, I think you should be able to walk around in your yard with a gun without having to worry about a nutty neighbor, but I don't think that's the world we're living in now. I lived in the Valley when I was in high school and I used to walk down the street carrying a rifle or a shotgun over my shoulder --no one ever complained or called the police. And when a cop stopped me it was to ask about my gun and check it out, not as some kind of criminal suspect. Unfortunately I think those days are gone and I wouldn't dare do that in my old neighborhood today.