The Wild west had stricter gun control laws than we have today.
NRA Stick this where the sun don't shine!!!
In 1840 Alabama court that, in upholding its state ban,
ruled it was a state's right to regulate where and how a citizen could carry, and that the state constitution's allowance of personal firearms
“is not to bear arms upon all occasions and in all places.”
Gun Control Is as Old as the Old Wild West
Contrary to the popular imagination, bearing arms on the frontier was a heavily regulated business
It's
October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, and Arizona is not yet a state. The O.K. Corral is quiet, and it's had an unremarkable existence for the two years it's been standing—although it's about to become famous.
Marshall Virgil Earp, having deputized his brothers Wyatt and Morgan and his pal
Doc Holliday, is having a gun control problem. Long-running tensions between the lawmen and a faction of cowboys – represented this morning by Billy Claiborne, the Clanton brothers, and the McLaury brothers – will come to a head over Tombstone's gun law.
The laws of Tombstone at the time required visitors, upon entering town to disarm, either at a hotel or a lawman's office.
The “Old West” conjures up all sorts of imagery– such as Tombstone, Deadwood, Dodge City, or Abilene, to name a few.
One other thing these cities had in common: strict gun control laws.
Laws regulating ownership and carry of firearms, apart from the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, were
passed at a local level rather than by Congress. “Gun control laws were adopted pretty quickly in these places,” says Winkler
. “Most were adopted by municipal governments exercising self-control and self-determination.”
Carrying any kind of weapon, guns or knives, was not allowed other than outside town borders and inside the home. When visitors left their weapons with a law officer upon entering town, they'd receive a token, like a coat check, which they'd exchange for their guns when leaving town.
The practice was started in Southern states, which
were among the first to enact laws against concealed carry of guns and knives, in the early 1800s. -- The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, points to an 1840 Alabama court that, in upholding its state ban,
ruled it was a state's right to regulate where and how a citizen could carry, and that the state constitution's allowance of personal firearms
“is not to bear arms upon all occasions and in all places.”
Dodge City in 1878 (Wikimedia Commons)
It's
October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, and Arizona
The laws of Tombstone at the time required visitors,
upon entering town to disarm, either at a hotel or a lawman's office. (Residents of many famed cattle towns, such as Dodge City, Abilene, and Deadwood, had similar restrictions.)
image:
https://public-media.si-cdn.com/fil...d-4fac-8fc0-7ff859b10f21/mclauriesclanton.jpg
"Tombstone had much more restrictive laws on carrying guns in public in the 1880s than it has today,”
Dodge City, Kansas, formed a municipal government in 1878. According to Stephen Aron, a professor of history at UCLA, the
first law passed was one prohibiting the carry of guns in town, cultivating a reputation of peace and stability was necessary, even in boisterous towns, if it were to become anything more transient than a one-industry boom town.
Laws regulating ownership and carry of firearms, apart from the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment,
were passed at a local level rather than by Congress.
“
Gun control laws were adopted pretty quickly in these places,” says Winkler. “Most were adopted by municipal governments exercising self-control and self-determination.”
Carrying any kind of weapon, guns or knives, was not allowed other than outside town borders and inside the home.
When visitors left their weapons with a law officer upon entering town, they'd receive a token, like a coat check, which they'd exchange for their guns when leaving town.
Louisiana, too, upheld an early ban on concealed carry firearms. When a Kentucky court reversed its ban, the state constitution was amended to specify the
Kentucky general assembly was within its rights to, in the future, regulate or prohibit concealed carry.
Still, Winkler says, it was an affirmation that regulation was compatible with the Second Amendment. The federal government of the 1800s largely stayed out of gun-law court battles.
“People were allowed to own guns, and everyone did own guns [in the West], for the most part,
but when you came into town, you had to either check your guns if you were a visitor or keep your guns at home if you were a resident.”
Gun Control Is as Old as the Old West | History | Smithsonian
Did the Wild West Have More Gun Control Than We Do Today?
A check? That’s right.
When you entered a frontier town, you were legally required to leave your guns at the stables on the outskirts of town or drop them off with the sheriff, who would give you a token in exchange. You checked your guns then like you’d check your overcoat today at a Boston restaurant in winter. Visitors were welcome, but their guns were not.
Towns barred anyone but law enforcement from carrying guns in public.
The most common cause of arrest was illegally carrying a firearm. Sheriffs and marshals took gun control seriously.
Did the Wild West Have More Gun Control Than We Do Today? | HuffPost
Today---Illinois town bans assault weapons, will fine those who keep them
The
town of Deerfield, Ill., has moved to
ban assault weapons, including the AR-15 used in the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, claiming the measure will make the town more safe from mass shootings.
The ordinance was passed unanimously;
"the normative value that assault weapons should have no role or purpose in civil society."
It also takes a swing at a popular reading of the Second Amendment, stating the weapons are
"not reasonably necessary to protect an individual's right of self-defense" or to preserve a well-regulated militia.
Illinois town bans assault weapons, will fine those who keep them
Chicago suburb bans assault weapons in response to Parkland shooting
Chicago suburb this week took the aggressive step of
banning assault weapons within its borders, in what local officials said was a direct response to the mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school earlier this year.
Officials in Deerfield, Ill., unanimously approved the ordinance, which prohibits the possession, manufacture or sale of a range of firearms, as well as large-capacity magazines. Residents of the 19,000-person village have until June 13 to remove the guns from village limits or face up to $1,000 per day in fines.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...hooting/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.95db16134355
Seattle will require gun owners to lock up their firearms, after the City Council voted unanimously Monday to pass legislation proposed by Mayor Jenny Durkan.
Starting 180 days after Durkan signs the legislation, it will be
a civil infraction to store a gun without the firearm being secured in a locked container.
The legislation will apply only to guns kept somewhere, rather than those carried by or under the control of their owners.
Also under the legislation,
it will be a civil infraction when an owner knows or should know that a minor, “at-risk person” or unauthorized user is likely to access a gun and such a person actually does access the weapon.
The legislation allows fines up to $500 when a gun isn’t locked up, up to $1,000 when a prohibited person accesses a firearm and up to $10,000 when a prohibited person uses the weapon to hurt someone or commit a crime.
Gun owners face fines up to $10,000 for not locking up their guns under new Seattle law
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