Way of the Gun

Claremont Institute ^ | June 4, 2019 | John R. Lott, Jr.

[rogerantone1]

Harsanyi explodes one myth after another about the history of guns. Gun control advocates have gone so far as to claim that “the lack of violence [in the old West] can be attributed to the fact that there was more gun control in the West than there is in modern America.” But cities in the old West didn’t actually ban guns.

[Secret Agent Man]

Many criminals were much more likely to be shot by citizens or officers defending themselves or apprehending them.

[Equine1952]

Northfield, Minnesota or Coffeeville, Kansas ring any bells? Then there’s Abilene, Dodge, and the list goes on. Gun control was being able to hit your target. It still should be. IMO

[Celtic Conservative]

Gun control in the old west? Not really.

CC

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***But cities in the old West didn’t actually ban guns.***

True. Cities might ban the carrying of guns, but not the ownership of them.

In Wichita, Hurricane Bill came with his cowboys to break out of jail one of their own who had been arrested for carrying a gun. The lawman fled, leaving only ONE Man in charge of the jail.
Someone rang the city alarm bell and the lone jail guardian found himself backed up by a large group of local citizens all armed to the teeth.

Hurricane Bill’s men quietly disappeared into the night, discarding their guns in any brush pile they could find.

[FreedomPoster]

There’s an account of that event here:
http://www.americancowboychronicles.com/2019/02/it-was-hurricane-bill-not-shanghai.html

Happened in 1873. I’ll point out that’s less than 10 years after the end of the Civil War. Quite likely most of the participants were veterans, or if younger, children of veterans. These were not people likely to be unfamiliar with firearms nor nervous Nellies.

[FreedomPoster]

Correction, 1874. Comments hold.

[Equine1952]

If the folks back then knew you were coming. They’d meet you as familiar with firearms as the intruders. James/Youngers and Dalton’s found those farmers had guns and sand.

[5th MEB]

YUP; talk to the James gang about the Northfield raid.

[wastoute]

Well it was the first day of deer hunting season.

[marktwain]

There was the famous (at the time) armed citizens stopping of the bank robbery in Eureka Springs, Arkansas in September of 1922, 46 years later.

https://www.ammoland.com/2014/03/eureka-springs-gunfight-showed-marksmanship-of-armed-citizens/

[dynachrome]

Athens, Tennessee. 1946

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[Wonder Warthog]

The attitude still exists. One of my relatives owned a small grocery store in a VERY rural area of south Louisiana. His kids wired the store for sound, and ran the output to their home.

One night, they heard noises of a break-in, and conversation from the perps as they proceeded to rob the store. Dad called a number of neighbors, who surrounded the store (armed, of course).

The perps observed the situation, and it was THEY who called local law enforcement. I should mention that the Dad was a former Marine and WWII vet.

[super7man]

There's gun control, and then there's GUN control.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Support Your Local Sheriff. Saw it fifty years ago at the theater.

[JimRed]

Summary hanging of those who used guns to rob, murder and intimidate helped keep things cooler. Let’s reinstate it!