Pahrump, Nev., Wears Guns, and Ron Paul Support, on Its Hip Isaac Brekken for The New York Times Sam Jones, a supporter of gun rights and Ron Paul, says he was behind the 83 Paul posters put up around the town of Pahrump. PAHRUMP, Nev. - On rare occasions, when a brave - or foolish - local official here proposes banning firearms from government buildings or meetings, he is met with howls of protests by sidearm-wearing residents who pack public hearings. Shocked tourists on the way to Death Valley periodically call the local sheriff's office to report someone wearing a pistol in plain view. That is their right, they are told. 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. This is the heart of Ron Paul country, the one county in Nevada that the 76-year-old congressman from Texas carried in the 2008 Republican caucuses, and a place that wears its libertarianism proudly. It is also a place where many people come to be left alone. "There are a lot of people who hide in Pahrump," said Carl England Jr., who, as pastor of a Baptist church here and also proprietor of a local septic business, knows a lot about his neighbors. Many people here have owned guns - even some, like Jerry Neese, who are scared of them - not necessarily for concerns about safety but to make a statement about living in a free country. "People believe in the rights they have, and want to show they believe in them," said Bonnie White, who owns Emmalee's Guns and Emporium (named for her granddaughter) and sells 500 guns a year. People will fight for their rights here. Mr. Neese and his wife, Mary, liked their two .357 Magnums but had to sell them when they lost their business. Ms. Neese once shot a burglar as he came after Mr. Neese with a large screwdriver, and she fears her husband might otherwise have been killed. Nevertheless, Mr. Neese says the love of firearms can go too far, especially allowing people to wear them out in the open just about anywhere. "That makes people nervous," he said. If I see someone with a gun on their hip, and I had a gun, it would make me want to put my hands on my gun. Likewise, support for Mr. Paul is far from universal: he won 34 percent of the vote in Nye County the last time, barely edging out Mitt Romney, though there was some dispute over the final tally. But even among undecideds like Ms. White, Mr. Paul's message about getting government out of people's lives strikes a chord here as in few other places. There are many libertarians out there, and many of them came from urban areas and sought relative isolation. And they found it," said Robert List, a former Nevada governor and the state's Republican national committeeman, referring to Nye County. They don't come to Las Vegas unless they have to. Paul campaign officials hope to capitalize on that mistrust of government at Saturday's caucuses, and they were planning a big rally in Pahrump on Friday as one of Mr. Paul's last stops. "It's a mentality, "Leave me alone, let me do my thing, government, keep out of my business," " said Carl Bunce, Mr. Paul's Nevada campaign chairman. They like as little government as possible in their lives, and Ron Paul is obviously the only candidate talking about reducing the size of federal government, so it's an instant tie in their minds to support that candidate. Large blue Ron Paul signs with red borders are ubiquitous in Pahrump, mainly because of Sam Jones, one of Mr. Paul's most fervent backers here. He says 83 of the signs have been put up around the town, with the materials paid for by about two dozen Paul supporters. On this Thursday, Mr. Jones was keeping busy with two items: One was helping with preparations for Mr. Paul's campaign stop the next day. The other was attending a court hearing to answer charges he faced stemming from a confrontation with sheriff's deputies in which he was subdued with a Taser. He said he had been reaching for a small copy of the Constitution that he keeps with him; the deputies said he appeared to be going for the other thing he carries on his person: his .45-caliber pistol, according to an account of his arrest in the local paper. Mr. Jones has been one of the fiercest critics of efforts to ban firearms at public meetings. "The Constitution doesn't say we have the right to bear arms everywhere, except the Pahrump, Nev., courthouse," he said, sitting on a couch outside his home with his 1-year-old dog, Precious. "This country is becoming a police state," he added. If Ron Paul doesn't get elected, we're history.