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.”