Gun Control in the Wild West
I think it’s great that our government is now turning “progressive” in a last-minute attempt to fix our nation’s infrastructure and perhaps even turn toward a more self-sustaining and non-polluting lifestyle. However, with all these “shootings” going on in New Orleans, San Diego, and Wisconsin, not to mention the “unmentionables” in the inner cities where people of color get killed so frequently that it’s not news, perhaps we should actually do what most of the Trump voters want to do: Go back to the Nineteenth Century.
At least, back then, according to my research, we had very strict gun control in our cities and towns. Don’t pay attention to our fictional world of the Wild West. Guns weren’t allowed in any “casino,” better known as “saloons and gambling halls.” You were required to check them in with the police, or police representative, before you could even enter the premises.
Remember the “Shootout at the O. K. Corral, Tombstone, AZ” (which wasn’t in the O. K. Corral)? It all began because the Cowboys, a local gang, didn’t check their guns in with authorities (remember when there were authorities?). Therefore, two of the Earp brothers (the third chickened out at the last moment, but got bushwhacked later) and Doc Holiday were charged with enforcing that law, and the gunfight ensued.
Flash-forward to 2021, and it seems the Cowboys are everywhere, man! Any gunslinger (including mentally deranged folks with histories of mental illness) can legally purchase a gun, and anybody can begin a shoot-out at any time and place of their choosing. Now that’s what I call a “Wild Everywhere.”
Maybe before we get to work on the bridges, roads, and energy-efficiency, our congress should take another gander at our gun laws? Hmm? Pretty please?
