Have Gun No License Along With No Abortions In Texas

I saw that which you see above this morning in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Apparently the Texas legislature passed a new law which allows a Texan to carry a handgun without needing to get a license to do so.

What a relief. I have been without a gun for so long I probably don't remember how to pull a trigger.

I did not want to try to buy a gun and get a license in Texas, because, before this new law, I was afraid my extensive criminal history would prevent me from getting a license to legally pack heat. 

But, as soon as this new law goes into effect I will once again be able to be legally armed and dangerous, without needing a license.

And then, after learning I could soon be an armed threat in Texas, I learned the following via being the top story on CNN online this morning.

Way back in the 1800s Texas exiled most of its Native American tribes north to Oklahoma. Leaving only a couple tribal reservations in Texas. Texas prohibits commercial casinos.

Due to federal law allowing Native Americans to operate casinos, one of those remaining Texas tribes, the Kickapoo, operates the Lucky Eagle casino, offering only electronic gaming machines.

With electronic gaming machines meaning, I assume, those new fangled slot machine type things which cause me sensory overload and confusion. But no blackjack or poker or any other card games. Along with, I assume, no keno or bingo.

Due to Texas foolishly banning casinos of the sort one sees in all the states surrounding Texas, when leaving Texas, via whatever direction, one soon comes to a casino resort.

Head north on I-35 and soon after you cross into Oklahoma you arrive at the world's biggest casino, or so it claims, the Winstar World Casino & Resort. 

At my location in Wichita Falls I am close to two casino resorts a short distance after one crosses the Red River into Oklahoma. 

Head east to Louisiana and soon you will be in Shreveport and Bossier City where you will find riverboat casinos floating on the Red River.

Head west out of Texas to New Mexico and you will soon see casino resorts.

One can assume the majority of customers in casinos close to the Texas border are Texans. Thus a lot of money flows from the pockets of gambling Texans into the pockets of the Native American tribes which own the casinos.

Which, if you look at it that way, one can say the Texans are doing a good thing, helping the tribes make money.

My old home zone of the Skagit Valley has a large Native American population, consisting of several tribes with their own reservation land. A couple of the Skagit tribes have built casino resorts, those being the Swinomish Casino & Lodge and the Skagit Valley Casino Resort.

The Skagit Valley Casino had my favorite buffet to go to when I lived in the neighborhood.

So, why, one can not help but wonder, is Texas not okay with casinos operating in the state?

As for this new Texas banning of most abortions. Are abortions legal in Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico? If so, will clinics be opening near the Texas border providing abortions to desperate Texans?

Gambling With Texas

There are some things that Texans accept as making sense that seem really goofy to a non-Texan. Like the Texas liquor laws. They are very convoluted. I live in a wet zone, next to a dry zone. Right on the border. So, I am surrounded by liquor stores.

That sort of relates to my change of subject. That being gambling in Texas. For most types of gambling Texas is a dry zone. The bordering states are wet zones.

Texas allows gambling on horses. There is a state run lottery in Texas.

In state after state the Indian Nations have won court battles giving them the right to open casinos. But in Texas, the few Indians who were not run out of the state opened a couple casinos, but Texas successfully shut them down.

A few years back a Wal-Mart in Denton, Texas was doing a fun thing for seniors. As in they ran a freebie bingo game with prizes, like bananas and boxes of Depends. The state shut down the bingo game for violating the gambling laws. I don't remember if any of the elderly were arrested.

Ever so often a Texas politician will try to get casino gambling legalized in Texas, to no avail. I don't quite understand what the aversion to casinos is. Maybe Texas is being kind to Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico, knowing if casinos were legalized in Texas it would devastate the economies of those states.

A lot of money flows from Texas to the riverboat casinos across the border in Shreveport and Bossier City. Riverboat casinos? Well, it isn't just Texas that is convoluted about how they go about things. In Louisiana it was decided that somehow gambling was less sinful if it took place on a boat that could float away if need be.

Oklahoma allowed casinos a few years back. They are sort of pseudo casinos with make believe slot machines that I don't quite understand. New Mexico has real casinos that don't have to float.

When I was younger and living in Washington it was a fun thing to go to Reno, Nevada. Back then Nevada seemed so different from the rest of America. And then the Indian Tribes won the right to open casinos in all the states, except Utah, that surround Nevada. Now, when I'm in Tacoma, there are 2 Nevada quality casinos to play in. With real slot machines. That are actually entertaining. Like this giant Monopoly game one that plays like the real Monopoly game with giant dice spinning over head. Lulu and I somehow figured out how to regularly come out ahead on the Monopoly game. Lulu told me a new casino is under construction in Tacoma that will replace the Muckleshoot Casino as the state's biggest. Their seafood buffet is a good thing. The current big one in Tacoma, where I've played with Lulu, is called the Emerald Queen Casino.

Where I lived in Washington, the Skagit Valley, there are two Indian casinos, both prosperous. One run by the Swinomish Tribe with a marina and RV Park part of the casino complex, the other run by the Upper Skagit Tribe, with a large hotel. (built without government subsidy unlike what had to be done to get Fort Worth's seldom used Convention Center a hotel) A few miles south of where I lived the Tulalip Indians have built a Vegas quality casino that is quite cool. Prior to deciding the Golden Corral was the world's best buffet, Lulu thought that of the Tulalip Casino's buffet. That's the front of the Tulalip Casino with a pod of Orca Killer Whales and a giant Indian spearing a giant salmon.

Reno is on hard times due to all the west coast casinos. I think the same thing would happen to the casinos on the Texas border, if Texas were to allow casinos in Texas. All that money would stay in Texas. I think Texas is quite kind to help its neighbors like this.