“How often did these incidents occur in the “wild, wild west,” where “everybody” wore a gun?”
I’ve seen several old west documentaries where they found that there were actually very few “gunfights” in the old west. The “gunslinger” is more of a Hollywood concoction than reality.
Most folks either had, or wore, a gun...but for many more reasons than mass killings and crime. There were wild animals, snakes, Indians, and criminals. Most guns were worn, or born, for SELF PROTECTION, not murder and mayhem.
Folks were wild, and mix in a few saloons and some of that rotgut whiskey and things would get out of hand once in a while. It took the law, sometimes wearing a gun, to set them right again.
We’re not looking to become the “wild west”, but there is one old saying that holds very true where human nature is concerned...”an armed society, is a polite society”.
The 2nd amendment is basically to protect us from our own government...it’s hard to terrorize an armed populace. It’s what keeps the likes of Obama and the democrats from rising to the ranks of full-fledged dictators...they know we’re out there.
In most towns, when people from the outside came in, they needed to surrender their firearms. It was not a big deal. EVERYONE did it.
Hardly anyone “wore” a firearm unless they were out on the farm or range. And then it was more to kill snakes, wolves, and coyotes.
The people who think the wild west is “cool” would be the same people who think “gang violence” is cool today.
A little bit of reading kills a whole lot of hollywood.