Everyday Carry
By Robb Manning
Maybe the “Old West” Was Not So Bad After All
In the last decade or so, as more states have passed laws ceasing the violation of the 2nd Amendment they had been reaping upon their citizens, I hear the same old argument coming from those opposed to gun ownership. It’s the same worn-out argument that we heard here in Wisconsin every time pro-carry bills have been up for review. “If we allow people to carry guns it will be a return to the Old West.” I have been reflecting a lot after recent tragedies, and it occurred to me to ask myself, “would a return to the Old West really be such a bad thing?”
Now, I can’t claim to have lived during that time -- I’m not that old. As I presume none of you are, either. So I can’t say from first hand account what it was like to live in the Old West. I am however, a student of history, and I’ve done a fair amount of reading on the subject. My knowledge on the subject is beyond the idealized Old West passed off by Hollywood.
Back in the Old West, even the “bad guys” had some sort of honor. They were concerned about such things as reputation. Even the baddest of bad would want a reputation of being a tough, stone-cold killer. But, what they wouldn’t want is to be called a coward. And back then, folks were considered a coward for shooting someone in the back, especially if they were unarmed. If you shot women and children, that was the worst way to be labeled a coward. If you made a living off of the gun, and by intimidating people, being labeled a coward was just bad for business. So even amongst the criminal-types, there was still some sort of code -- there were lines that you didn’t cross.
Additionally, in the instance where people were shot and killed, there was generally a reason for it, legitimate or not. They were either active in the trade of violence (criminal or law enforcement), or actively tried to interfere with those that were in the trade of violence (i.e. tried to stop a bad guy), or they were a victim of a crime, such as robbery. At least there was some sort of reason. Something that gave reason for the unnecessary death. If you picked up the newspaper and read it you would say, “Oh, someone died because they were killed in a hold-up.” Not saying it was right, but you understood why.
Much has changed. Nowadays, there isn’t any line that evil won’t cross. Gone are the days where it’s cowardly and taboo to shoot innocent, unarmed people in the back. In fact, for bad guys, it’s perfectly acceptable to shoot an unarmed person fleeing for their life. Apparently, after the Sandy Hook massacre, being labeled a coward for shooting children and women is also no longer a problem for the bad guys.
In the high profile mass shootings of modern times, there is so often no reason. When we learn of a new killing, we’re often left wondering, “why?” There are no answers for this nonsense. The killer (I purposely leave out the names of the evil who commit these crimes, in the hope that others follow suit, and these evil people are not immortalized, but forgotten by history) who walked into a movie theater to shoot as many people as he could, he wasn’t trying to rob people for money. He didn’t force anyone to do something they didn’t want to. He just did it to see how many people he could kill. We can’t wrap our heads around that to even begin to understand. This isn’t a Call of Duty video game; these innocent people don’t re-spawn. They’re dead.
It is far more complicated than this, I acknowledge that. Yes, there were bad people back in the Old West who shot people for no reason, just as there is today. The difference? If back then someone was deemed mental, and a danger to society, he or she was locked up in an asylum. Of course nowadays, the ACLU would have none of that, that’s far too unethical. It’s much more ethical to have dangerous people out and about where they can do unspeakable things at m ovie theaters, malls, churches and -- most tragic of all -- elementary schools. On this topic of mental health, we need to do some serious thinking and soul searching.
My last point is a little off topic from the Old West, but it deals with the “good ol’ days.” Please excuse my bluntness, but what ever happened to the days when people who didn’t care about living, just took their own life by committing suicide? Why do some people insist upon taking out as many people as they can, when they go? If someone wants to kill his/her self, so be it. But don’t take others with you, because they love life, and want to live.
The “Old West” gets a bad rap, as a time where gunslingers were everywhere, shooting everyone. But while many people did carry firearms for personal protection, this simply wasn’t true. Perhaps we should take a few cues from the Old West, maybe it wasn’t so bad, after all.