--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Cross the wrong state border with your…" description: "\"Cross the wrong state border with your gun, or wake up one morning to new legislation or a new presidential executive order, and suddenly you're the ba..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/308/walter-kirn-2189_amendment_cross-the-wrong-state-border-with-your-g_2240082.jpg" --- # Cross the wrong state border with your gun, or wake up one… ![“Cross the wrong state border with your gun, or wake up one morning to new legislation or a new presidential executive order, and suddenly you're the bad guy, not the good guy. No wonder some gun owners seem so touchy; they feel, at some level, like criminals in waiting.” quote by Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/308/walter-kirn-2189_amendment_cross-the-wrong-state-border-with-your-g_2240082.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/308/walter-kirn-2189_amendment_cross-the-wrong-state-border-with-your-g_2240082.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/308/walter-kirn-2189_amendment_cross-the-wrong-state-border-with-your-g_2240082.jpg) > “Cross the wrong state border with your gun, or wake up one morning to new legislation or a new presidential executive order, and suddenly you're the bad guy, not the good guy. No wonder some gun owners seem so touchy; they feel, at some level, like criminals in waiting.” [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When laws change, gun owners can feel criminalized, leading to resentment and defensiveness. **In simple terms:** Gun owners may feel unfairly labeled as criminals after new laws. Key Takeaway Recognize how policy shifts affect perceptions of legality. Themes rights policy perception identity defensiveness Mood defensive reflective Type political social When to use this quote - political debate - community meetings - personal reflection - media consumption Key Concepts civil liberties social identity law enforcement Questions to Reflect On - How do legal changes influence personal identity? - What can reduce feelings of being targeted? A Different Perspective Not all gun owners react the same; context matters. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amendment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amendment/) [Bad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad/) [Bad guy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-guy/) [Border](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/border/) [Border Gun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/border-gun-5074426/) [Criminals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criminals/) [Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cross/) [Executive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/executive/) [Feel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feel/) [Good](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good/) [Good guy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-guy/) [Gun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun/) [Gun owners](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun-owners/) [Gun Wake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gun-wake-5074427/) [Guy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guy/) [Legislation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/legislation/) [Level](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/level/) [Like](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like/) [Like Criminals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-criminals-915953/) [Morning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/morning/) [New](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new/) [One morning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/one-morning/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Owners](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/owners/) [Presidential](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/presidential/) [Seem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seem/) [Some](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/some/) [State](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/state/) [Suddenly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suddenly/) [Touchy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touchy/) [Up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/up/) [Waiting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waiting/) [Wake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wake/) [Wake up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wake-up/) [Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonder/) [Wrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wrong/) [Wrong State](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wrong-state-1427284/) [You](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/you/) [Your](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/your/) ## Related quotes > [You are wrong. The state and its existence are essential before everything else. All this preoccupation with liberty is not serious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/habib-bourguiba/you-are-wrong-the-state-and-its-existence-are-essential-before/) [Habib Bourguiba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/habib-bourguiba/) > [How did we suddenly become entranced with gangster culture? I saw it this morning on campus. When did the black community say we should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-reid/how-did-we-suddenly-become-entranced-with-gangster-culture-i-saw-it/) [Tim Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-reid/) > [“We weren't perfect for each other- I knew that then as much as I know it now- but we worked together around our problems,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-hershkovich/we-weren-t-perfect-for-each-other-i-knew-that-then-as-much-as-i-know/) [Leigh Hershkovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-hershkovich/) > [Most people lived their lives like criminals: act first, worry about the consequences later.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/most-people-lived-their-lives-like-criminals-act-first-worry-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“But it's what the world does to people. It makes some of us feel ugly and it makes some of us look like criminals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-woodson/but-it-s-what-the-world-does-to-people-it-makes-some-of-us-feel-ugly/) [Jacqueline Woodson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-woodson/) > [A woman will always be made to feel like a criminal, whatever choice she makes, however hard she tries. Mothers feel like criminals. Non-mothers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-heti/a-woman-will-always-be-made-to-feel-like-a-criminal-whatever-choice/) [Sheila Heti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-heti/) > [“Mothers were naturals for law enforcement, because toddlers, like criminals, were often belligerent and destructive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/mothers-were-naturals-for-law-enforcement-because-toddlers-like/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [“We’d have to move out of the state and change our names, go on the run like we’re the criminals and not them. Even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-hawley/we-d-have-to-move-out-of-the-state-and-change-our-names-go-on-the-run/) [Samuel Hawley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-hawley/) > [The dead should be judged like criminals, impartially, but they should be allowed the benefit of the doubt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/the-dead-should-be-judged-like-criminals-impartially-but-they-should/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [I must warn you right here and now that I am a 'wet leftie,' a 'leftist' and also a member of the 'bleeding heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-leunig/i-must-warn-you-right-here-and-now-that-i-am-a-wet-leftie-a-leftist/) [Michael Leunig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-leunig/) > [Honestly, I envy painters, who can have a masterpiece in one morning. Or musicians, who can write something in 30 minutes and arrange it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-hannah/honestly-i-envy-painters-who-can-have-a-masterpiece-in-one-morning-or/) [Barry Hannah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-hannah/) > [In a psychiatric hospital, a lot of people believe that people on TV are talking to them directly through the screen. I'm with about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-merton/in-a-psychiatric-hospital-a-lot-of-people-believe-that-people-on-tv/) [Paul Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-merton/) > [My arm came back just as quickly as it went sore on me in 1915. I awoke one morning and learned I could throw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dazzy-vance/my-arm-came-back-just-as-quickly-as-it-went-sore-on-me-in-1915-i/) [Dazzy Vance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dazzy-vance/) > [When I was 15, I came downstairs one morning, picked up mother's newspaper and, oh, what a shock! The Titanic had gone. The 'unsinkable'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-allingham/when-i-was-15-i-came-downstairs-one-morning-picked-up-mother-s/) [Henry Allingham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-allingham/) > [I used to sleep on the floor next to the bed, because I believed that I didn't even deserve a bed to sleep in.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/byron-katie/i-used-to-sleep-on-the-floor-next-to-the-bed-because-i-believed-that/) [Byron Katie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/byron-katie/) ## More by Walter Kirn > [Everyone loves a witch hunt as long as it's someone else's witch being hunted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/everyone-loves-a-witch-hunt-as-long-as-it-s-someone-else-s-witch/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [“I just wasn't ready for his stories. They'd breed with the others I'd heard and hatch new monsters, because there was no such thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/i-just-wasn-t-ready-for-his-stories-they-d-breed-with-the-others-i-d/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [It's no accident that most self-help groups use 'anonymous' in their names; to Americans, the first step toward redemption is a ritual wiping out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/it-s-no-accident-that-most-self-help-groups-use-anonymous-in-their/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [“For time to pass it would have to go somewhere, and where would that be? Time sits. We move, it sits. Sometimes it trembles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/for-time-to-pass-it-would-have-to-go-somewhere-and-where-would-that/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [Once you realize just the sort of glut of books that exists out there, it does become incumbent on you not to add to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/once-you-realize-just-the-sort-of-glut-of-books-that-exists-out-there/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [There are two sides to me. One is the writer. That's a savage person who looks at everything as a story and, you know,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/there-are-two-sides-to-me-one-is-the-writer-that-s-a-savage-person/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [I remember the first time I went to Italy when I was eighteen, I was in Florence and there were all these eighteen, nineteen,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/i-remember-the-first-time-i-went-to-italy-when-i-was-eighteen-i-was/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [Quiet cunning bested boastful brawn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/quiet-cunning-bested-boastful-brawn/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [The idea that Americans favor politicians who either remind them of themselves or can imagine what their selves are like because they too have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/the-idea-that-americans-favor-politicians-who-either-remind-them-of/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [“Our habit of wishing backward from what is to what might have been is the soft but persistent tapping that cracks the crystal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/our-habit-of-wishing-backward-from-what-is-to-what-might-have-been-is/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [Memo to extreme partisans: If you can't bring yourselves to love your enemies, can you at least learn to hate your friends?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/memo-to-extreme-partisans-if-you-can-t-bring-yourselves-to-love-your/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [People can be so neglectful of each other and of their own heritage - then death intrudes. 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