My family left Richardson Texas in the mid 80's. Among my few vivid memories of being there are seeing gun racks on cars, holsters on angry parents at the groce

My family left Richardson Texas in the mid 80's. Among my few vivid memories of being there are seeing gun racks on cars, holsters on angry parents at the grocery store, cigarettes everywhere (that was nationwide), and my parents being visibly anxious of strangers. I didn't really comprehend the cold war at that age, so I conflated the weapons posturing of US and Russia with the weapons posturing of everyday people in the town. In many ways it still feels similar, if we all have deadly weapons ready to fire we'll have peace. Billboards and tv commercials for everything from used cars to boots glorified the outlaw vigilante. The reality in public places felt like one loud person could turn a place into a circular firing squad at any time.