Gun laws were tougher in old Tombstone

[nadinbrzezinski]

Reporting from Tombstone, Ariz. — A billboard just outside this Old West town promises "Gunfights Daily!" and tourists line up each afternoon to watch costumed cowboys and lawmen reenact the bloody gunfight at the OK Corral with blazing six-shooters.

But as with much of the Wild West, myth has replaced history. The 1881 shootout took place in a narrow alley, not at the corral. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday weren't seen as heroic until later; they were initially charged with murder.

And one fact is usually ignored: Back then, Tombstone had far stricter gun control than it does today. In fact, the American West's most infamous gun battle erupted when the marshal tried to enforce a local ordinance that barred carrying firearms in public. A judge had fined one of the victims $25 earlier that day for packing a pistol.

"You could wear your gun into town, but you had to check it at the sheriff's office or the Grand Hotel, and you couldn't pick it up again until you were leaving town," said Bob Boze Bell, executive editor of True West Magazine, which celebrates the Old West. "It was an effort to control the violence."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tombstone-20110123,0,7161951.story

And FINALLY somebody is tacking the ACTUAL history of guns in the old west, OUTSIDE of the American Historical Review...

Oh and don't expect this to make a whit of difference, we are way too much in love with our myths.

[Ozymanithrax]

1. Who knew a cattle thief like Ike Clanton was a devotee of ...

2nd Amendmentism?

Actually, I knew. But it will convert none.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. RLOL...

[Bruno2]

3. This is true

However, people weren't as civilized back then either. Also these gun laws were to keep people from drinking with guns. There are similar laws on the books today to keep guns out of bars. Looking at this from the outside looking in makes you wonder. Do keeping guns out of bars really it make it more safe, or , does it keep the law abiding from being armed in a bar?

[Tunkamerica]

4. you got to be fucking kidding me.

try again

[Bruno2]

19. Why would I be fucking kidding?

I am not scared of a tool. I am not scared of cars either. This phobia paralleled with democrats makes me sick to my stomach. We are finally being recognized as intelligent people and we have to battle this anti gun stuff from within our party. It makes no sense. The party could be so much stronger w/o the anti gun rhetoric that surrounds us.

[Tunkamerica]

25. Actually, the comment I was reacting strongest to was "we're more civilized now"

or the parapharase. Evolution doesn't work that quick.

Every comment I read by you reads as some sort of skewed plea for redemption from some ridiculousness that no one thinks EXCEPT for the extreme right-wing repubs.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. And some want to remove those laws too

[DrDan]

10. civilized? 11 LEOs died yesterday through the use of guns

[Bruno2]

17. How many died yesterday with the use of automobiles?

We should consider banning those as well.

[DrDan]

24. that argument is so lame - no equivalence

[melm00se]

12. NC has such a law

a little backwards but the law is there.

Backwards in that you can open carry in a bar but you can't conceal carry.

Also, DYK: in NC, the law sets a zero tolerance component as it relates to blood alchol level and concealed carry? blowing even .01 is grounds to lose your permit? Know very many (if any) activities that carry such requirements?

I have a neighbor who is a cop and he loves approaching folks with CCPs (the computer in his car will spit that out), as he can be extremely confident that they are:

a) not drunk/stoned/otherwise impaired (and I can attest to that attitude: went thru a sobriety/insurance/registration/license/are you wearing deordorant checkpoint. Officer approaches the car, I disclose that I have a CCP and am carrying. He said: "I know" and waved me on thru - they ran my plate and from that my license even before I got to the head of the line)
b) statistically much much lower than the general public to have committed a crime

[beevul]

5. Hogwash. Utter hogwash.

"Back then, Tombstone had far stricter gun control than it does today. In fact, the American West's most infamous gun battle erupted when the marshal tried to enforce a local ordinance that barred carrying firearms in public. A judge had fined one of the victims $25 earlier that day for packing a pistol."

21 to buy a handgun in tombstone then? No. Thats the case now though isnt it.

Felons prohibited from gun possession in tombstone then? No. They are now though.

Nics checks on all retail gun sales in tombstone then? No. There are now though.

I.D required to buy a gun or ammunition in tombstone then? No. It is now though.

Laws against sawing off shotgun barrels in tombstone then? No. There are now though.

The author of this "piece" bases the conclusion that "Tombstone had far stricter gun control than it does today" off CARRY LAW ONLY, and ignored all those other things.

Frankly I'm surprised you posted this, being that its demonstrably wrong - that is - factually incorrect.

[friendly_iconoclast]

6. I love this gem from the linked article. Tombstone was a very violent place:

...Out on Boot Hill, where rocky graves still mark the remains of the three men killed in the 1881 shootout, as well as others who were shot, stabbed, hanged and, in one case, "taken from the county jail and lynched," Janet Presser, a 47-year-old Nevada visitor, was also skeptical of curbing gun sales....

Not exactly Walnut Grove, eh?

The shootout was a battle in a gang war, where one of the gangs (the Earps) controlled the marshal's office. Virgil Earp

was the marshal.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Actually the myth you love is a MYTH for a reason

The wild west had these laws all over the place...but John Ford helped to bury it, and these days mostly historians know this.

[beevul]

9. Actually...I said nothing about a myth.

"Actually the myth you love is a MYTH for a reason"

Actually...I said nothing about a myth. Nor did I mention that I "love" anything.

What is the word used to describe someone who engages in the act of attributing to someone something they have not demonstrated?

Whatever that word is, it now applies to you.

And I couldn't help but notice, not a peep from you about the content of the post you responded to.

Whats the matter, facts got your tongue?

Here they are again:

21 to buy a handgun in tombstone then? No. Thats the case now though isnt it.

Felons prohibited from gun possession in tombstone then? No. They are now though.

Nics checks on all retail gun sales in tombstone then? No. There are now though.

I.D required to buy a gun or ammunition in tombstone then? No. It is now though.

Laws against sawing off shotgun barrels in tombstone then? No. There are now though.



Care to actually address them this time?

"Back then, Tombstone had far stricter gun control than it does today" doesn't square too well with those facts, does it.

"these days mostly historians know this"

Even the best historians can not accurately compare then to now, without knowing accurately how things are now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. I really don't have time for true believers

Off to the ignore list you go...

Oh and enjoy it while it lasts...Tucson was probably one too many mass shootings. Thee is a consensus emerging...

[beevul]

16. "True believers"?

"True believers"?

21 to buy a handgun in tombstone then? No. Thats the case now though isnt it.

Felons prohibited from gun possession in tombstone then? No. They are now though.

Nics checks on all retail gun sales in tombstone then? No. There are now though.

I.D required to buy a gun or ammunition in tombstone then? No. It is now though.

Laws against sawing off shotgun barrels in tombstone then? No. There are now though.



You can put me on ignore as you wish.

It wont make the facts go away though.

[Electric Monk]

11. I love this thread

[aikoaiko]

13. Fascinating because it is the gun temperance movement that claims we moving toward the "wild west."

by liberalizing gun laws.


Why do you think the anti-gun movement does this?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

15. Laws against fugitive slaves used to be tougher too but we got over it

There used to be lots of laws in the "olden days" that we don't have anymore.

I wonder if any of the saloon girls getting slapped around by drunken cow hands pined for a lifting of the handgun ban as domestic violence laws weren't even in existence in those days.

[Joanne98]

18. Ooh! Good catch!

[kctim]

20. Interesting

Gun laws were tougher in old Tombstone and they STILL had violence and murders.

[Bruno2]

21. It's almost like

laws restricting firearms really don't help reduce violent crime . I wonder why the anti gunners keep it up? It wont be long in our party before the anti gun stigma disappears.

[Kingofalldems]

22. They were gun grabbers!!

I thought it was all settled law! Gimme my guns!

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. Oh and not just old tombstone.

Gun grabbers in the old west...