[kearnyirish2]

Maybe the easier availability of firearms keeps things civil.

I couldn’t imagine sinking 30 years of payments into an area specifically designed for single family homes if that could just be tossed aside; in my area, the broke cities would simply export their gibsmedats to the surrounding areas.

[Thud]

It's less dramatic than that. IMO it's more the absence of government regulations in general, which includes the abundance of buildable land.

Texas was independent prior to its admission to the Union, so the Federal government didn't own any land there while the Texas state government owned almost everything, and sold off almost all of that to private buyers over the next 150 years.

Plus Texas is pretty flat while Texans need protection from its environment. California is anything but flat (save in the San Joaquin Valley) and its climate is so wonderful that it needs protection from Californians.