"Gunner" wrote in message
news

And many a Fast Gun, met his end, by a bullet in the back, delivered
by a slow citizen.

If one looks at the death stats from even the wild and wooly cattle
towns of the 1880-90 period..per capita there were far less homicides
than todays cities with strong gun control laws. Both inside and
outside of the city limits, folks tended to be far politer and less
likely to shoot each other.


We have an interesting town about 175 miles north of Las Vegas called
Pioche. It was a mining town started in the 1880s. At its inception, it
was known for its lawlessness and violence. Seventy-two souls were interred
in the local cemetery before the first person died from natural causes.

And yet still they had law and order, even though those statistics would
imply otherwise. There seemed to be two factions in town. There were the
decent citizens and then there was the rabble. No one cared when the rabble
killed each other. No one cared when the decent citizens killed one of the
rabble. A compilation of the early police blotter action and the grand jury
indictments is available at the museum. Local bad guys were often found
dead in alleyways either killed by another bad guy, vigilance committee
members or by persons unknown. It was a regular thing for the bad guys to
assault citizens, or to say vulgar things and to be shot to death for their
actions. In each case, the grand jury deemed it an appropriate defense and
no action was taken. Bad guys were dealt with harshly once law enforcement
was present and the bad guys did things against the citizenry.

Point is that back in those times, people WERE politer and less likely to
shoot each other. But when confronted by the criminal element, they dealt
with slime without a second thought, and without bleeding heart defense
lawyers. Many of the men had come from the Civil War, and knew how to use
guns. The Hollywood impression of a cowering grovelling citizenry is way
off the mark historically. And when a society is allowed this
self-correcting policy, problems are usually solved early with less wear and
tear for all.

Just a thought.

STeve