What do you think when you see the "Don't Tread on Me" flag?

[politicat]

67. Pick another neighborhood.

We're casually house hunting. (We want a garage, but we can't move until Ancient Kitty goes in search of the celestial catnip. She's 23, so it'll happen eventually, but until then, we'll wait and pick the right neighborhood for us.)

When I see a Gadsden or a Confederate flag, or Beauprez yard signs (in June) or cars with "For America"* on their back windows, or NRA stickers, I know we won't fit in and I'll spend too much of my time fuming. Not to mention the fact that I lost a cousin a few years ago when his neighbor decided to test a handgun and fired it long instead of into the ground. The bullet went through the wall of my cousin's house and killed him.

Our neighborhoods are pretty dense for suburbia, and I like that. I don't mind living near responsible gun owners, but I have no way of knowing which ones are which. It's a little safer to assume that someone who advertises their affiliations will be vocal about it, which will be irritating to me at minimum, and might end up with a shooting on the block (kid sneaks out, kid sneaks in. These things happen too often.)

So when I see those signs, I move on. It's a quick shorthand. I'm going to live in that neighborhood for the rest of my life -- I don't want to set myself up for being disgruntled.

* the Romney campaign sent out rear window decals that said Romney for America. After he lost, I've noticed that a lot of the Romney part got razor-bladed off, but the For America part stayed.