We pulled into Quartzite, AZ a little before 3:00 PM, a
total of 1419-miles so far. Tomorrow at this time we hope to be safe and sound
at Orangeland RV Park in Orange, CA, a little over 200-miles from Quartzite.
Today’s drive was very similar to yesterday except we saw a
lot more people today because I-10 took us through Tucson and Phoenix. Still,
it was mostly desert. There was nothing to look at. Then I noticed an exit sign
for “311th Avenue” out in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing
to be seen anywhere. Fifteen or twenty miles further down the road I passed
another exit sign. This one read, “449th Avenue.” The only things
visible from horizon to horizon were cacti and mountains. There was no
municipality in any direction for many, many miles. Go figure. Another sign
that made me smile was one for “Sore Finger Road.” I would love to know the
origin of the name.
I would also like to let the reader know that it is not all
downhill from the Continental Divide as one might think it should be. There
were still hills and mountains to climb after we crossed it. Our
gasoline-powered motorhome actually did an excellent job on the hills. But once
it built up speed and momentum you didn’t want anything to get in your way that
would make you ease up on the accelerator. I actually passed seven
diesel-powered motorhomes today and had only one pass me. It was a Prevost,
which probably cost twenty or more times what mine cost, so I didn’t mind.
We passed a billboard advertising “gunfights” in Tombstone,
AZ. We visited Tombstone a few years ago and once was enough. “Gunfights” are
the big draw in Tombstone and are performed throughout the day. The OK Corral had
been walled in to prevent prying eyes from witnessing the re-enactment of the
famous gunfight without paying admission.
I’ll let you in on a bit of little known trivia about the famous
gunfight between the Earps and the group known as the “Cowboys.” It didn’t
occur in the OK Corral. It actually took place in a back alley. An interesting
bit of history is also the reason why the gunfight happened in the first place.
City Marshal Virgil Earp and his brother Wyatt were simply enforcing the town’s
Ordinance No. 9, entitled, “To Provide against Carrying of Deadly Weapons” (effective
April 19, 1881). It read in part, “It is hereby declared unlawful to carry in
the hand or upon the person or otherwise any deadly weapon within the limits of
said city of Tombstone, without first obtaining a permit in writing.” Earlier
in the day a judge had fined one of the “Cowboys” $25 for refusing to turnover
his firearm. Ordinance No. 9 remained in effect until the 1980’s.
Since I have managed to segue into “Gun Control,” why don’t
I continue to enlighten the reader with some interesting facts. The first gun
control law on the books in the colonies was in 1686. New Jersey barred the
wearing of concealed weapons in public because, according to the law, “it
induced great Fear and Quarrels.” In 1837, Georgia made it illegal “to see or to
keep or have about their persons” pistols or other listed weapons. Its stated
purpose was “to guard and protect the citizens of this State against the
unwarrantable and too prevalent use of deadly weapons.” In 1852 a law was
passed in Washington, DC to prevent exhibiting weapons listed in the bill “in a
rude, angry or threatening manner.”
Gun control in the Wild West was a lot stricter that most
people realize. Towns like Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City had the most
restrictive gun control laws in the nation in an effort to control the violence.
In the 1800’s, most frontier towns barred anyone but law enforcement from
carrying guns in public. Most towns required guns to be checked upon entering
the town. The town livery stable was a common place for guns to be checked. The
livery stable was the equivalent of the modern day parking garage. Most cowboys
riding into town would leave their horses at the livery stable and it made
sense to have them check their guns there also. Other towns required guns to be
checked in at the local Sheriff’s or Marshal’s office.
By the 1880’s most towns in the Old West had decided that
gun control was necessary and implemented total bans of the carrying of
pistols. Publications from the days of the Wild West show city leaders arguing
in favor of gun control. They knew from experience that a town which allowed
easy access to guns was inviting trouble. They argued that more guns in more
places caused not greater safety, but greater death. The editor of the Black
Hills Daily Times of Dakota Territory in 1884, called the idea of carrying
firearms into the city a “dangerous practice,” not only to others, but to the
carrier himself. The editor underscored his point with the headline, “Perforated
by His Own Pistol.” The editor of Montana’s Yellowstone Journal wrote that
Americans have “the right to bear arms,” but he also thought that guns had to
be regulated.
An article in Laramie’s Northwest Stock Journal in 1884
reported, “We see many cowboys fitting up for the spring and summer work. They
all seem to think it absolutely necessary to have a revolver. Of all the
foolish notions this is the most absurd.” By 1882, a Texas cattle raising
association had banned pistols from the cowboy’s belt, saying, “In almost every
section of the West murders are on the increase, and cowmen are too often the
principals in the encounters.” In June, 1884, the Texas Life Stock Journal
declared,” The six-shooter loaded with deadly cartridges is a dangerous
companion for any man, especially if he should unfortunately be primed with
whiskey. Cattlemen should unite in aiding the enforcement of the law against
carrying of deadly weapons.”
Dodge City was known as the Sodom of the Plains. After
residents organized the city government of Dodge City, their first law was a
gun control law. It required all guns to be turned in when entering town. The
law read, in part: “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 the law.” However, the death toll from gun play was increasing so
much that the town fathers enacted Ordinance No. 67 in August of 1882. It
specified that no one could “carry concealed or otherwise about his or her
person, any pistol, bowie knife, sling shot or other dangerous or deadly
weapons except County, City, or United States Officers.” The fine was raised
from $25 to $100. The Dodge City Times declared, “There is disposition to do
away with the carrying of firearms, and we hope the feeling will be general.
The carrying of firearms is a barbarous custom, and its time the practice was
broken up.”
Signs posted in Wichita, Kansas in 1873 declared, “Leave
Your Revolvers At Police Headquarters and Get a Check.” A photograph taken in
Dodge City in 1879 shows a large wooden billboard stating, “The carrying of
Firearms Strictly Prohibited.”
Texas banned all handguns in towns in 1871. Wyoming banned
all firearms from “any city, town, or village” in 1876. In 1879, Tennessee
criminalized any transfer of handguns as well as their importation into the
state. In 1881 Arkansas barred all handgun transfers and pistol cartridges.
In 1918 Montana enacted “An Act providing for the
registration of all fire arms and weapons and regulating the sale thereof.” The
law required every person within the state to file a report with the sheriff of
the county in which they lived listing all fire arms and weapons owned or
possessed. It also required that any sale or transfer of a weapon be reported
to the sheriff.
We should be asking ourselves, “What happened over the past
100 years?”
3 comments :
Not sure about the past 100 years, but now it's all about the NRA.
One of Bundys boys shot dead by FBI,his gun did a lot of good,if he wasn't carrying,he might still be breathing! Or maybe he wanted to go that way.
Bill is correct. A "rebellious" group in the NRA pulled a "coup" and took over the organization back in the 80's (I believe). Up to that point the NRA was all about rifles and hunting safety. From that point on it has been to push the 2nd Amendment rights as far as they can.
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