Citizens of the Lone Star State are quick to tell you how wonderful their state is in every way. They may be right in many respects, but not on the on the issue of gun rights, where they remain surprisingly backward among freedom-loving states.

We all know thanks to the antics of open carry groups that there is not a right to open carry a holstered handgun in Texas. Texas also remains one of the states that refuses to allow concealed carriers to carry guns in bars.

Because of this absurdity, a regular patron in a Houston bar that had the gentlemanly habit of walking female bartenders to their cars after their shifts were over is facing felony charges for saving their lives during an after-hours robbery.

Just after closing around 2:30 Saturday morning, four armed men barged in at EJ’s Place demanding money.

Instead, a customer inside the bar, which is located on the 16500 block of Kuykendahl Road, pulled out his gun and started exchanging fire with the robbers. He shot and killed two of them while the other two ran. Once the heated exchange ended, the patron left, too.

“We’re still trying to determine who he is, and why he left the scene,” said Harris County Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Spurgeon.

Harris County Sheriff’s deputies are looking into whether the same robbers held up a gas station on Cypresswood earlier in the night.

Most folks driving by EJ’s Place Saturday afternoon thought the patron there was in the right.

“He has his right to protect himself and his family and his friends,” said Charles Webb. “It’s just unfortunate something like that happened.”

Another neighbor, Danielle Russell, added, “Being a mom, yeah, I would feel safe knowing that he has a gun and he’s going to protect me in a robbery.”

But a sign in the bar window clearly states it’s a felony to carry a gun inside. Under Texas law, even licensed carriers can’t have guns in bars. That could explain why the patron left.

“Everybody in there is just a happy and nice atmosphere and everybody’s real pleasant,” said Webb. “I can’t imagine that happening there.”

Another longtime customer said that the patron who killed the robbers always stays until closing to walk the female bartenders to their cars. The friend said the man would never start anything, but would always protect his friends.

“It’s sad. It’s unfortunate that we live in that type of world,” said Webb.

The situation is indeed unfortunate, on a number of levels.

It is unfortunate that citizens of Texas are subject to backwards gun laws that empower criminals and leave the law abiding disarmed.

It is unfortunate that citizens of Texas have to make the choice to either follow the law and put their lives at risk, or ignore the law in order to protect themselves and others, and by doing so, risk becoming felons.

It is unfortunate that this man—who bravely took on four armed criminals—will now face felony charges and the revocation of his firearms rights for the rest of his life in convicted because he chose to act in defense of himself and others.

We live in a grotesquely over-regulated and over-lawyered world,  where it is estimated that there are so many laws that we each commit three felonies a day.

In moments of candor, law enforcement officers will tell you that they don’t have the time to “equally enforce the law,” because they’d barely make it out of the police station parking lots if they cited or arrested everyone they saw breaking a law.

It is long past time that the citizens of this Republic in every state begin campaigning for a massive reduction of the number of local, state, and federal laws in this nation.

This incident in a Houston bar is just the latest incident proving that the desire of statists to legislate everything has gone absurdly too far.