Texas Using the Run and Gun

Run Like Rick: A How-To on Jogging While Armed
Joe Keohane/Special to AOL News

(April 30) -- It instantly became a part of Rick Perry lore, and likely not to the displeasure of the Texas governor: Jogging on a trail outside Austin, he told The Associated Press, he came across a coyote that hungrily eyed his daughter's Labrador. Perry then did the "appropriate thing," he said, pulling out his laser-sighted Ruger .380 and shooting the coyote dead.

But wait. Perry was doing what?

Or, as an incredulous Austinite put it in the Houston Chronicle, expressing a question pondered by many: "Whoever heard of someone jogging with a gun?"

As it happens, it's not that unusual, according to conversations with gun owners and instructors who view taking a gun running no differently than they do taking one to the supermarket or the gym. It does, though, present certain logistical challenges.

"Jogging while carrying a pistol can be a tough situation to deal with," says Kyle Hausen, a Cincinnati-area police officer and firearms instructor who jogs with his pistol. Indeed, it's not like you can just grab any off-the-shelf six-shooter and jam it in your pocket. "Jogging shorts are loose fitting, and having a pistol smack you in the thigh each step gets very annoying very quickly." To say nothing of the risk of pulling a Plaxico Burress.

One key to successfully packing while running, says Hausen, is to start with the right hardware: "I bought the simplest and lightest iPod I could find to use while jogging. I do the same when choosing a pistol to jog with." Specifically, he uses a Kel-Tec P-32, a small, lightweight polymer pistol that he bought expressly for the purpose. Online, the Ruger used by Perry is also cited as a favorite for exercising. Oregon writer and gun advocate Chuck Hawks carries a "lightweight revolver, such as the Ruger LCR ... or a 9X19 autoloader, such as the Kahr PM."

See, this is why the rest of the country makes fun of us. Because when we're not cutting the Civil Rights Era out of textbooks, scheduling high school bible classes or threatening to secede, our governor is staying strapped. I guess the NRA doesn't need to lobby our politicians too much seeing as they feel the need to job with a loaded gun. Where the hell is Rick Perry jogging that he encounters wildlife viscious enough to kill him? Has he ever heard of a gym? I'm pretty sure someone in Austin would hook him up with a free membership. So way to go Texas - your highest elected official is no different than Plaxico Burress.