RE: Flash visit to Utah State Capitol building - staircase, flag and weapons

Yes, they are architectural gems for certain. I cannot imagine, if you saw some of them, that you or anyone would disagree. I have always marveled at what it must have taken to build them generations ago, in such relatively remote locations.

One fascinating part of where you would find many of them is in what are called the "county seats," i.e. the little towns in which they are found were the economic (and anything else of significance) center for their local area. As such, you can still find these architectural marvels in the center of a "city square," i.e. surrounded by gardens and nice landscaping, with all the businesses and such then found facing that square in the 4 streets surrounding it.

Yes, my mother kept a very detailed journal. Her "travels with Grandma" is a family treasure, as a result. Let's say ... Her "road less traveled" view of America ... 🫡😉

"It's a bit scary in a way ..."

Yes, I can somewhat imagine how that would be the case. Especially given the way this issue is typically represented in the press in far too many places. Sadly, these reports seldom miss the chance to portray this in a negative fashion. Never positive ... You rarely hear how these people are very responsible and are actually a part of the societal fabric preserving our safety here "in land of the free and the the home of the brave."

As part of this negative reporting, I cannot remember literally in my lifetime ever hearing about why America even has a Second Amendment. The endless arguments are almost always focused (intentionally?) in such a way that you will never hear it?

Hear what?

The Second Amendment was intended to preserve the right of the American people to protect themselves against any future tyrannical governments, having just emerged victorious over exactly this ... The idea being, as much as they could responsibly manage it, to ensure it would never happen again ...

A conversation I had with two Australians seated across from me in our train ride down into London many years ago comes to mind. Beginning with them saying ...

"What is it with you Yanks and your guns?"

... and ending with them being educated (they freely acknowledged this, at the end of it ...) about what they had never heard before and our common agreement about what the outcome might have been in the (at that time, quite recent) massacre in Tiananmen square had the Chinese people had a similar constitutionally protected right ...