Weird to be a WYO Dem

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s re-election campaign announced this news on Sept. 21: "Citing his dedication to the Second Amendment, the National Rifle Association has thrown its support behind Governor Dave Freudenthal in his bid for re-election. In the October edition of American Hunter magazine, the NRA singled Freudenthal out for inclusion on their "A-list" of gubernatorial candidates across the country."

WYO native Dave Freudenthal is a hunter and has owned guns all his life. You don’t see any lying around when you visit his office at the State Capitol ("Don’t sit on that shotgun on the couch!") or when you’re lucky enough to get an invitation to the Wyoming Governor’s Residence. I have it on good authority that attendees at weekend soirees must check their sidearms at the door – but only after tying your horse to the hitching post out front.

I never have a sidearm to check. I’m the only guy in my neighborhood, maybe the entire city of Cheyenne, who doesn’t own a gun. My gun-toting friends say I’ll be in a world of hurt when the shitstorm comes down. That’s a term Colorado’s Hunter S. Thompson used, shitstorm meaning that time when the country finally goes to hell in a handbasket and we’ll need guns to keep the two-legged wolves from the door. Hunter had lots of guns, even ran for sheriff of Pitkin County back in 1972, took potshots at neighbors and wild dogs. If he lived in WYO, he’d probably be a Democrat too, as much as he hated smarmy Republican opportunists like Dick Cheney.

But no guns for me. I’ll continue to reside in the world of unarmed struggle. I’m O.K. with responsible gun owners. I support all the amendments to the U.S. Constitution, unlike some Republicans who tend to favor some amendments (No. 2) and hate some others (No. 1). There are conservatives in the West who like to say Democrats are only waiting for a majority in Congress so they can take their guns away. A recent letter to the editor in our local paper said just that about Gary Trauner, the Democrat from Jackson who’s running for Congress against Republican Barbara Cubin. The letter writer said that if Trauner and his Dem pals get elected, they would join with the Jackson Hole and Hollywood liberals to take away all the guns.

If I could talk to this letter writer, I'd ask him if he thought Democrats or Republicans are better stewards of the U.S. Constitution. While he’s concentrating on the bogeyman of Dem gun-banners, Repubs in the White House and Congress are shredding the Constitution.