homepage checks out. “Missouri Breaks”...Brando’s gun was the Regulator IIRC
I thought it was Brando himself who was the Regulator, and the term is also used for Jayhawkers in The Outlaw Josey Wales.
Both instances are an offshoot from the original Regulators in Western North Carolina (the Piedmont). Surprisingly some Hollywood writers understood the continuing usage of the term for groups of civilian law enforcement groups which were not ad hoc posses. It may be that the term appears in records from those times, mainly after the war between the states.
Both movies tended to portray Regulators as paid hit men for the State, but the original group was the opposite, opposed to Governor Tryon’s regime of corruption and theft.
https://www.menofthewest.net/governor-tryon-carolina-regulators/
And this is a good quote...
“The governor followed this act of violence with a “Riot Act” of the most oppressive and illegal character. Under it if any ten men assembled and did not disperse when ordered to do so, they were to be held guilty of felony. For a riot committed either before or after this act was published any persons accused might be tried before the Superior Court, no matter how far it was from their homes, and if they did not appear within sixty days, with or without notice, they were to be proclaimed outlaws and to forfeit their lives and property. The governor also sent out a request for volunteers to march against the “rebels,” but the Assembly refused to grant money for this warlike purpose”
Sounds familiar, huh?