The Olde West is generally defined as the period after the American Civil War - 1865 to 1885 - some twenty years. Estimates indicate that during that time less than 20,000 men, women and children were killed by guns... 1,000 per year.
Contrast that today with the 30,000 plus Americans killed annually by guns.
But first a reminiscence:
Several years ago, my wife and I visited Tombstone Arizona - the site of the West's most famous gunfight.... The Gunfight At The OK Corral. The fight took place in 1881 between the Earps / Doc Holliday and the Clanton / McLaury Gang.
While there, we visited the town's Boot Hill - similarly named to other olde west cemeteries. Two headstones in particular stand out in my memory - (not exactly word for word):
Here lies John Stead;
We hung him for horse thief;
He said he was innocent;
Turned out he was right;
But he is stoned cold dead nonetheless.
Here lies Billy John;
Thought himself the fastest draw in the West;
Turned out he was second best.
But those heady days have nothing on present day America as the above statistics confirm.
And yet in the face of these bleak numbers, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is giddy at the thought that the Second Amendment to their Constitution protects the rights of its citizens bear arms.
Countless ads by the NRA proudly ?? that this right enables Americans to protect themselves from the bad guys.
They conveniently ignore the fact though that it is the 'good guys' who are being killed by their own guns.
I spent some time in Florida recently and in the small city in which I stayed - the local paper recounted daily numerous local gun killings. Indeed of the 50 or so which I read about, only - 1 fell within the definition of self-defence. The rest involved domestic disputes, children gaining access to their parents weapons, family members being mistaken for invaders, suicides and so on.
Hardly anyone mentions the fact that when the second amendment was passed into law - in 1791, weaponry consisted of single shot flintlocks.
So today we see automatic assault weaponry protected by this amendment. Why not include tanks and CF 18s?
In respect to the love of guns, it is a different world in America and is one that is most definitely not the envy of the world.
So I will close in the famous words of the late Charlton Heston - "I'll give you my gun when you pry it out of my cold dead hands".
And more likely caused because he accidentally tripped.
As I see it...
'K.D. Galagher'
