Hey! Wait a minute!Pydpiper wrote: ... if things go south ...
I must protest that phraseology!
South ain't bad ... South is good!
Things are better down here! When I lived in an adjacent county, the sheriff offered to give me a number of pre-signed "Permit-to-Purchase-a-Handgun" forms, so I wouldn't have to drive the fifteen miles to his office any time I wanted to buy another!
Shoot ... law officers around here don't mind you having guns. They expect it ... and approve it. No storage laws. You can ride right down the road with a loaded rifle or shotgun beside you, or hanging in the back window ... and any handgun in plain view, whether you're concealed carry or not. If you have a CC permit, all you're required to do is tell any officer who approaches that you're armed. He cannot challenge that, or take it away unless you're arrested, though he can ask to see the permit (hardly any ever do). The vast majority never raise an eyebrow. Unless we're in some incorporated area with it's own restrictions, we can shoot 'em where and when we like (mostly) ... and for any reason.
All in all, we're still fairly free in Caroline. Don't mind me if I pose a toast to us:
Here's to the land of the long leaf pine,
The summer land where the sun doth shine,
Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great,
Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!
Here's to the land of the cotton bloom white,
Where the scuppernong perfumes the breeze at night,
Where the soft southern moss and jessamine mate,
'Neath the murmuring pines of the Old North State!
Here's to the land where the galax grows,
Where the rhododendron's rosette glows,
Where soars Mount Mitchell's summit great,
In the "Land of the Sky," in the Old North State!
Here's to the land where maidens are fair,
Where friends are true and cold hearts rare,
The near land, the dear land, whatever fate,
The blest land, the best land, the Old North State!
I know Ray and a few others will raise a glass!