Gun control in the Old West. How much is true?

[DonaldBabbett]

I've heard rumors that some sheriffs, and lawmen like Wyatt Earp, in certain old-west towns like Tombstone and Dodge City exercised gun control. Ordinary people were required to turn their guns into the sheriff's office when coming in to town or face jail.

How much of this is true?

Was such gun control common in American towns of the Old West?

Historically, were there any legal challenges made against such firearms restrictions imposed by such sheriffs?

Were old-west sheriffs even aware of the Bill of Rights way back then?

There is at least one sheriff in at least one Georgia county in modern times that mandated able-bodied adult males in his county be armed at all times.

This is my kind of sheriff. A far cry from California coastal big-city police chiefs.

[moond0ggie]

"certain old-west towns like Tombstone and Dodge City exercised gun control"

Not sure,
I dont think they made the everyday local residence turn over their weapon,
it may have only been for strangers & gangs that rode into town.

[DonaldBabbett]

Not sure,
I don't think he made the everyday local residence turn over their weapon,
it may have only been for strangers & gangs that rode into town.

Yes, historic accounts of alleged gun control on the frontier are rather sketchy. Anti-gunners may have also been "rewriting" history to try to "prove" that "gun packing was not so common in the olden days". Hollywood shows virtually each and every cowboy with a holstered pistol or two while in town. The antis are "trying" to show a "long-standing tradition" of gun control which I find questionable.

[God Bless America]

Read Heller, Scalia laid it out.

YES there always has been gun control of some sort, even in the Old West.

Thete is a long-standing tradition of gun control, it is true, but not a long-standing tradition of full-retard like we have today.

Long-standing tradition: no felon gun owners.

Modern full-retard: no guns, owners felons.

[sigstroker]

Yeah, Tombstone had a no-carry law. I remember at the end of matches at the range outside of town in the 80's, we were warned not to open carry through town. It was the only city in Arizona where it wasn't permitted afaik.

Virgil's old ordinance was repealed circa 1992, when Arizona got concealed weapons permits.

As far as gun control effectiveness, it was a time of swift and brutal justice. Break the law, and pay the price. People didn't much mind not carrying because they knew everyone else obeyed the law too. Those that didn't were dealt with. Can hardly say that about current times.

[Cokebottle]

Concealed carry was not permitted in most of the country for much of the last two centuries.
What the antis fail to tell is that loaded open carry WAS (and still is in large part) legal in most of the country for the last two centuries.

[codypaint77]

Some did have no firearms

Some did have ordinances but the biggest issue in those days was whiskey drinking.

There's a reason why whiskey was plentiful because fresh drinking water wasn't. Too many Cowboys (derogatory in those days) got drunk. Firearms and drunkenness didn't mix.

The antis will bring up those laws from the 1870-1880s. Today however, drinking and carrying is no go. The days of carrying and drunkenness are over. Some do still do this, it's not a great combination. You are held to a higher standard.

[God Bless America]

Drunkenness and boredom were a big problem then, it still is now.

But I don't know anybody who drinks whiskey to slake their actual thirst and I doubt they did then. Beer, yes, especially small beer. I bet drinking was just one of the few pastimes available then.

[Cokebottle]

Drunkenness and boredom were a big problem then, it still is now.

But I don't know anybody who drinks whiskey to slake their actual thirst and I doubt they did then. Beer, yes, especially small beer. I bet drinking was just one of the few pastimes available then.

This.
Low-point beer and wine were safer for hydration than water in "the old days", whiskey is and was never for satisfying thirst.

[BigPimping]

Alcohol and Firearms have never gone well together

[ChuckDizzle]

It's important to note that during the period the concept of incorporation under the 14th Amendment was a very new concept. Most local jurisdictions were still disregarding the Constitution, because up until the end of the civil war it was standard to do so.

[audiophil2]

Gun laws were at the town level back then since AZ, NV, etc were not states. Towns were established with money and the people with money wanted the towns to thrive so they had to make sure they were safe. Those laws first popped up in the south in places like Alabama so it was nothing new by the time it reached California. Reconstruction started in 1865 so Jim Crow laws in the south began disarming blacks a decade before Tombstone existed.

The dangerous places were in areas where there was no town government so mining camps/towns and railroad camps/towns were dangerous. Towns like Bodie, CA were far more dangerous than Dodge City and Tombstone.



AZ constitution was more gun friendly than the 2A when it was ratified around 1910.

AZ Graham County Sheriff Richard Mack sued the United States with the help of the NRA regarding the 5 day wait period in the Brady Bill. He won.

[WWDHD?]

Don't know how accurate this movie was but The Unforgiving with Clint Eastwood really went out of it's way to show how the old west town depicted required everyone to check in their guns whenever ridding into town. Would be interesting to know for sure how common this was.

[PyroFox79]

Yeah, Tombstone had a no-carry law. I remember at the end of matches at the range outside of town in the 80's, we were warned not to open carry through town. It was the only city in Arizona where it wasn't permitted afaik.

Virgil's old ordinance was repealed circa 1992, when Arizona got concealed weapons permits.

As far as gun control effectiveness, it was a time of swift and brutal justice. Break the law, and pay the price. People didn't much mind not carrying because they knew everyone else obeyed the law too. Those that didn't were dealt with. Can hardly say that about current times.

I wonder why they kept it for so long. I wonder if it was for its historical value or what?

[sigstroker]

No idea. Inertia, maybe.

Tombstone is a small town, it's not like there are ghetto drive-byes.