In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Clint Eastwood’s 1966 Western masterpiece, there are a total of 126 violent deaths, most by
gun-toting, pre-NRA loving, open-carry heroes.
But that was not the actual Wild West. No, the Wild West of history was
actually quite boring. Towns never
had a murder rate as high as what appeared in The Good, the Bad and the
Ugly. Not even close. Even the
town of Tombstone, famous for the gunfight at the OK Corral, had a highest gun
death total of 3---in 1881 and because of that infamous gunfight (which only
lasted for 30 seconds. The 1957 movie
has a running time of 122 minutes, which is 244 times longer than the actual
gunfight).
The notorious city of Dodge, Kansas, recorded only 17
murders between 1876 and 1885. The
highest was 5 recorded in 1878.
And in some years, no one was murdered at all. Unbelievable.
Plus, one thing the movies don’t mention is that gun control
was a reality in many Wild West towns.
In 1881, the Tombstone city council passed Ordinance #9, which
prohibited anyone other than law enforcement from carrying guns. The famous gunfight actually occurred
in an attempt to disarm several “bad guys with guns.”
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| The Anti-Gun Sign Outside of Dodge City |
In fact, many western towns prohibited all guns from entering the city limits. In Wichita, Kansas, visitors were required to leave their guns at the police station or face arrest. A sign that greeted visitors to Dodge
City were told that the “Carrying of firearms is strictly prohibited.” Next to drunk and disorderly conduct,
the most recorded arrests in the “Wild West” were for carrying firearms. As a result, the murder rate in
frontier towns averaged about 1.5 a year. Granted, the populations were much lower, but still….boring.
Luckily, we don’t have such laws today and people can work
out their problems on the streets, just like Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. The famous Wild West of the movies is
now a glorious reality on the streets of America—just as the founders (and Jesus) intended.
You can now experience the thrill of a shootout just like in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:
Instead of corrals or saloons, the preferred American
shootout place seems to be waffle houses:
Many Americans grew up playing "Cops and Robbers" or "Cowboys
and Indians." Now, you can live
out your childhood on the actual streets! And, in many places, you can actually walk around carrying your guns openly! We finally have the Wild West we always wanted. This is one of the biggest selling points
for tourists coming to ‘Murica. Book your trip today!
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| The Wild West. For Real. |
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