The truth of the old West was that by the time a town was large enough to have two streets, it would divide into the good side of town and the bad side of town. And the larger the town got, the greater the contrast between these two sides.
Gunfights were almost exclusively in the bad part of town. The typical gunfight was of a drunk challenging a bartender to come out on the street. For his part, the bartender would grab a shotgun, leave by the backdoor and emerge behind the drunk, to the drunk’s detriment.
And while towns went to great lengths to keep people from having guns, the same result happened that exists today in places like Chicago. Only the honest people would surrender their guns.
Damn. Now I’m a criminal. Or at least “not and honest person”. ;>}