# Please check your guns when in the city limits: Gun control in the wild west.



## Cruentus (Jan 2, 2005)

I was watching the Wyatt Erp movie on the history channel yesterday, and what cought my eye for discussion was the idea of checking your guns when you went into town. Apparently the law of many towns required you to check your guns, and to go unarmed while in town in the wild west. Kind of an interesting form of 'gun control' back then, don't you think.

What are your thoughts on this? Anyone know the history of this practice? How about the impact that it had?

 :2pistols:  :ultracool


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## dearnis.com (Jan 2, 2005)

Well, it gave us the notorious "Gunfight at the OK Corral."  Interestingly, some of the most defining gunfights in our history have been over disarming folks who did not want to be disarmed.  
In practice, it works as long as everyone can trust the  peacekeepers to keep the peace.  Many years back I frequented a watering hole where it was common practice to hand the bartender a folded newspaper on entry; you got it back on departure.  Never an incident in that establishment that I recall.


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## KenpoTex (Jan 5, 2005)

As far as the history of this practice, If I'm not mistaken, it started during the days of the big cattle drives.  The problem was that you'd have dozens of cowboys show up who'd been out on the trail and therefore had not had a drink or seen a woman for 2 or 3 months and they'd tend to get a little crazy.  As far as the merits of this practice and as far as that goes, gun control today, like Chad said, if we could have total faith in the government/law-enforcement comunity to prevent violence, protect us, and not oppress anyone, then there would be no need for guns in the hands of the general population.  The problem with this kind of law is that then, like today, the only people that will follow the rules and play nice are the law-abiding citizens, not the bad guys.


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## Cruentus (Jan 5, 2005)

> The problem with this kind of law is that then, like today, the only people that will follow the rules and play nice are the law-abiding citizens, not the bad guys.



I definatily agree to that today.

I wonder how it worked by the standards of the day though. Could the cowboys REALLY rely on the law back then to protect them in these towns?

Paul


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## KenpoTex (Jan 6, 2005)

Tulisan said:
			
		

> I wonder how it worked by the standards of the day though. Could the cowboys REALLY rely on the law back then to protect them in these towns?


I would imagine that there were many people then (like today) that ignored the law in the interests of having the means to protect themselves.  Of course this was the 1870's and '80's when it wasn't uncommon or unlawful (in most places) to carry a 12" bowie knife on your belt so it's not like they were totally defenseless.


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## Cruentus (Jan 6, 2005)

kenpotex said:
			
		

> I would imagine that there were many people then (like today) that ignored the law in the interests of having the means to protect themselves.  Of course this was the 1870's and '80's when it wasn't uncommon or unlawful (in most places) to carry a 12" bowie knife on your belt so it's not like they were totally defenseless.



Very True...knife regulation hadn't quite caught up back then.


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## dearnis.com (Jan 6, 2005)

> Very True...knife regulation hadn't quite caught up back then.



Actually false.  I will check sources (but probably not this week); state laws rendering carry of a Bowie Knife a felony date back to before the Civil War.  In open territory these were not a factor, but don't believe for a minute that such laws did not exist.


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## Cruentus (Jan 6, 2005)

dearnis.com said:
			
		

> Actually false.  I will check sources (but probably not this week); state laws rendering carry of a Bowie Knife a felony date back to before the Civil War.  In open territory these were not a factor, but don't believe for a minute that such laws did not exist.



REEaly? Well, Chad, thats not what the T.V. portrays, so it must not be true! 

Seriously, that is interesting; I did not know that. Yea, when you get the chance I'd like to see some resources on it.

Paul


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## AC_Pilot (Jan 6, 2005)

Of course, all of these laws were unconstitutional, per the 2nd Amendment to the COTUS


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## dearnis.com (Jan 7, 2005)

Paul (& others)

I _think_ this is discussed in Bill Bagwell's book on the Bowie Knife (wow...try saying that fast!!!)  I checked Dwight McLemore's _Paradoxes_ and Greg Walker's _Training of the Knife Fighter_ with negative results.  Problem is I am in transitional housing (well, have been for 2 years now) and most of my books are boxed up in the basement.  I am hoping it is the Bagwell book (which I can find relatively quickly) rather than a Bowie bio (I have several...) buried in the basement.  (Dig the BBBBBss   :ultracool )

So I am working on it; just been one of those weeks.  (I am also one of those guys who reads all the time, several books at a time, and cant always be sure where he read what....)


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## Cruentus (Jan 7, 2005)

dearnis.com said:
			
		

> Paul (& others)
> 
> I _think_ this is discussed in Bill Bagwell's book on the Bowie Knife (wow...try saying that fast!!!)  I checked Dwight McLemore's _Paradoxes_ and Greg Walker's _Training of the Knife Fighter_ with negative results.  Problem is I am in transitional housing (well, have been for 2 years now) and most of my books are boxed up in the basement.  I am hoping it is the Bagwell book (which I can find relatively quickly) rather than a Bowie bio (I have several...) buried in the basement.  (Dig the BBBBBss   :ultracool )
> 
> So I am working on it; just been one of those weeks.  (I am also one of those guys who reads all the time, several books at a time, and cant always be sure where he read what....)



Well, I should get a book by my favorite bowie knife maker. Thanks Chad!


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## dearnis.com (Jan 7, 2005)

> The Bowie knife was in such widespread use, and so effective, and so utterly impossible to drfend against, that _by June of 1837, the state legislatures of three states- Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee-had passed legislation that made it a felony to kill a man with a Bowie knife._ It was not necessarily a felony to kill a man, depending on circumstances, but it became one if you used a Bowie, even in self defense.  The State of Mississippi went so far as to place a $100 sale and transfer tax on the sale of Bowie knifes in an effort to curtail their use and ownership.


- From Bagwell, Bowies, Big Knives, and Battle Blades ; p. 13.  Bagwell is a noted custom smith, and a major historian of the Bowie knife.

Note that the Bowie developed in and around New Orleans in the Early 1800s, spread through the south, and was effectively dead as an American martial art form by the end of the Civil War, a casualty of Sam Colt.
Bowie himself is a fascinating character; there are several good bios, or see Paul Kirschner's excellent work The Deadiest Men


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## KenpoTex (Jan 8, 2005)

Good info Chad.  Now that you mentioned it I do remember reading that.  It would be interesting to know if those same types of laws existed in the big "wild west" towns, places like Dodge City, Abilene, or Fort Worth.


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## dearnis.com (Jan 8, 2005)

It would be interesting to know.  Rember that the OK Corrall incident was preciptated by a town statute on bearing firearms.  I like the part about the $100 transfer tax in the 1830s.  The transfer on an NFA weapon today is only $200; really makes you think.


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## GAB (Jan 16, 2005)

dearnis.com said:
			
		

> It would be interesting to know. Rember that the OK Corrall incident was preciptated by a town statute on bearing firearms. I like the part about the $100 transfer tax in the 1830s. The transfer on an NFA weapon today is only $200; really makes you think.


Hi, I would be interested in reading that information where did you get that?
The tax part in 1830.

Regards, Gary


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## dearnis.com (Jan 16, 2005)

see above for the reference.


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