The not so Wild West!

Borboletta said:
Much is made about the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms, yet the so called Wild West turns out to be considerably less violent than present day US society. Frontier towns back then had a policy of no guns to be worn in the city limits and they had to be handed in before entering. Indeed most of the violence was caused by the US army acting as a proxy for the railway companies. This they did with aplomb and alacrity, killing many Plains Indians that got in the way of those companies. This was clear genocide sanctioned by Congress and I feel that Americans ought to be more contrite when discussing other parts of the world.



http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=803
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When you get down trying to hold the feet of Americans to the fire, for things that ended in the 1920's; try to walk on those same coals for what England did, around the same time period.
 
Borboletta said:
Not on my threads you won't and I doubt many others from now on. I pity your poor husband, he must be a saint to put up with your craziness.
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I have it from a good source that when she met her husband, he was interested; because she said she was BI.

He didn't realize, until it was too late, that she meant POLAR. :D
 
USFREEDOM911 said:
I have it from a good source that when she met her husband, he was interested; because she said she was BI.

He didn't realize, until it was too late, that she meant POLAR. :D
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more-shocking-senior-gossip-11170542.jpg
 
J Craft said:
Gang violence in urban areas account for the vast majority of gun violence stats, apart from suicides. Remove gang violence (who don't typically have guns legally obtained, and don't follow laws) and US gun violence stats drop dramatically.
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Agreed. How do you do that though? Not all gang activities are centered around black market activities. So what is affective against organized crime (i.e. mafia), like RICCO, may not prove affective against street gangs and prison gangs which are centered around protection or opportunistic gangs, like many motorcycle clubs. Legit one day, criminal the next when low hanging fruits available. So how is that done?

Then you have the issue of how to find a constitutional method to prevent crazy wacked out mother fuckers, like Grind, from gaining access to guns and going on a rampage? They may account for a small total of gun violence but they tend to be extremely vicious when they do occur.

How do we balance safety with cherished rights?
 
Borboletta said:
No because for one thing I am not an American, you dozy twat and two, you have been harping on about the same effing thing for nigh on a decade or so. Everybody knows about it ffs but it is obvious to all that you are a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
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You quit harping on Desh. Someone had to step up to the plate and fill Dixie's shoes when he left the board and Desh has done a very admirable job!!
 
Borboletta said:


What is even more remarkable is that Tombstone had far more restrictive gun laws than the modern day city. Indeed the gunfight at the OK corral only occurred because Wyatt Earp was enforcing the no guns law.

After a decision by the Supreme Court affirming the right of individuals to own guns, then-Chicago Mayor Richard Daley sarcastically said, "Then why don't we do away with the court system and go back to the Old West, you have a gun and I have a gun and we'll settle it in the streets?" This is a common refrain heard in the gun debate. Gun control advocates fear -- and gun rights proponents sometimes hope -- the Second Amendment will transform our cities into modern-day versions of Dodge. Yet this is all based on a widely shared misunderstanding of the Wild West. Frontier towns -- places like Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge -- actually had the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation. In fact, many of those same cities have far less burdensome gun control today then they did back in the 1800s.

Guns were obviously widespread on the frontier. Out in the untamed wilderness, you needed a gun to be safe from bandits, natives, and wildlife. In the cities and towns of the West, however, the law often prohibited people from toting their guns around. A visitor arriving in Wichita, Kansas in 1873, the heart of the Wild West era, would have seen signs declaring, "Leave Your Revolvers At Police Headquarters, and Get a Check."

A check? That's right. When you entered a frontier town, you were legally required to leave your guns at the stables on the outskirts of town or drop them off with the sheriff, who would give you a token in exchange. You checked your guns then like you'd check your overcoat today at a Boston restaurant in winter. Visitors were welcome, but their guns were not.

In my new book, Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America, there's a photograph taken in Dodge City in 1879. Everything looks exactly as you'd imagine: wide, dusty road; clapboard and brick buildings; horse ties in front of the saloon. Yet right in the middle of the street is something you'd never expect. There's a huge wooden billboard announcing, "The Carrying of Firearms Strictly Prohibited."

While people were allowed to have guns at home for self-protection, frontier towns usually barred anyone but law enforcement from carrying guns in public.
When Dodge City residents organized their municipal government, do you know what the very first law they passed was? A gun control law. They declared that "any person or persons found carrying concealed weapons in the city of Dodge or violating the laws of the State shall be dealt with according to law." Many frontier towns, including Tombstone, Arizona--the site of the infamous "Shootout at the OK Corral"--also barred the carrying of guns openly. Today in Tombstone, you don't even need a permit to carry around a firearm. Gun rights advocates are pushing lawmakers in state after state to do away with nearly all limits on the ability of people to have guns in public.

Like any law regulating things that are small and easy to conceal, the gun control of the Wild West wasn't always perfectly enforced. But statistics show that, next to drunk and disorderly conduct, the most common cause of arrest was illegally carrying a firearm. Sheriffs and marshals took gun control seriously.

Although some in the gun community insist that more guns equals less crime, in the Wild West they discovered that gun control can work. Gun violence in these towns was far more rare than we commonly imagine. Historians who've studied the numbers have determined that frontier towns averaged less than two murders a year. Granted, the population of these towns was small. Nevertheless, these were not places where duels at high noon were commonplace. In fact, they almost never occurred.

Why is our image of the Wild West so wrong? Largely for the same reason these towns adopted gun control laws in the first place: economic development. Residents wanted limits on guns in public because they wanted to attract businesspeople and civilized folk. What prospective storeowner was going to move to Deadwood if he was likely to be robbed when he brought his daily earnings to the bank?

Once the frontier was closed, those same towns glorified a supposedly violent past in order to attract tourists and the businesses to serve them. Gunfights were extremely rare in frontier towns, but these days you can see a re-enactment of the one at the OK Corral several times a day. Don't forget to buy a souvenir!

The story of guns in America is far more complex and surprising than we've often been led to believe. We've always had a right to bear arms, but we've also always had gun control. Even in the Wild West, Americans balanced these two and enacted laws restricting guns in order to promote public safety. Why should it be so hard to do the same today?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-winkler/did-the-wild-west-have-mo_b_956035.html
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Actually in the frontier west when it was being settled more immigrants and settlers died from accidental shootings than were killed by bandits, natives or critters. Having said that, in those times taking a mans gun or his horse often had the affect of consigning that person and their family to death.

Which helps explain the hostility out west towards gun control and why horse thieves were often hanged.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Actually in the frontier west when it was being settled more immigrants and settlers died from accidental shootings than were killed by bandits, natives or critters. Having said that, in those times taking a mans gun or his horse often had the affect of consigning that person and their family to death.

Which helps explain the hostility out west towards gun control and why horse thieves were often hanged.
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Good point.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Agreed. How do you do that though? Not all gang activities are centered around black market activities. So what is affective against organized crime (i.e. mafia), like RICCO, may not prove affective against street gangs and prison gangs which are centered around protection or opportunistic gangs, like many motorcycle clubs. Legit one day, criminal the next when low hanging fruits available. So how is that done?

Then you have the issue of how to find a constitutional method to prevent crazy wacked out mother fuckers, like Grind, from gaining access to guns and going on a rampage? They may account for a small total of gun violence but they tend to be extremely vicious when they do occur.

How do we balance safety with cherished rights?
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The first place to start is to be honest about the problem. The problem is inner city gangs who have illegal guns. Focus your energy there, not by creating "feel good" legislation that only makes lawful gun owners the target.

Partner with the NRA to fund tactical gang units that focus on confiscation of illegal guns, and their destruction.
 
J Craft said:
The first place to start is to be honest about the problem. The problem is inner city gangs who have illegal guns. Focus your energy there, not by creating "feel good" legislation that only makes lawful gun owners the target.

Partner with the NRA to fund tactical gang units that focus on confiscation of illegal guns, and their destruction.
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The NRA would NEVER go for that...
 
Borboletta said:
No because for one thing I am not an American, you dozy twat and two, you have been harping on about the same effing thing for nigh on a decade or so. Everybody knows about it ffs but it is obvious to all that you are a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
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Everyone knows about Tombstone and Dodge too,
Shit fer brains.
Tell us something we didn't know and see if you can complete a single sentence without insulting women you fertid turd.
 
men who hate women odnt seem o understand what their ravings say about he women who surround them.


Exactly how does a man end up thinking women are useless?


Exactly how does a man end up thinking women are wonderful?


by the women in their lives whom they have known
 
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