From the heart of "Ron Paul country"

A story in today's New York Times, dateline Pahrump, Nevada, population 36,441, features this description of the place.

This is a town--unincorporated, to be sure--where many folks have little need for much government, whether manifested by permits, stop signs, gun regulations or anything that would threaten Pahrump's brothels. That goes for surrounding Nye County as well, which is more than twice the size of New Jersey but is home to only 44,000 residents, mostly in Pahrump.

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This is also a place where many people come to be left alone.

Journalist Richard Oppel, Jr., makes the point that many residents of Pahrump own and carry guns not out of concern for their safety, but because they can, to make a statement about their right to do so. Being home to lots of libertarians, it is perhaps not surprising that Nye County is the only Nevada county Ron Paul carried in his 2008 bid for the Republican nomination for president. This quote from former Nevada governor Robert List comments on the links some in Nye have to the city:

"There are many libertarians out there, and many of them came from urban areas an sought relative isolation. And they found it. ... They don't come to Las Vegas unless they have to."

The picture is one of rurality--and relative absence of government--as sanctuary, albeit a gun-friendly sanctuary.