Gun Control in the Wild West

John Lahr in the April 23 New Yorker:

In Wichita, Kansas, in 1873, a sign read, "Leave Your Revolvers at Police Headquarters, and Get a Check." The first thing the government of Dodge did when founding the city, in 1873, was pass a resolution that "any person or persons found carrying concealed weapons in the city of Dodge or violating the laws of the State shall be dealt with according to law." On the road through town, a wooden billboard read, "The Carrying of Firearms Strictly Prohibited." The shooting at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona, had to do with a gun-control law. In 1880, Tombstone's city council passed an ordinance "to Provide against Carrying of Deadly Weapons." When Wyatt Earp confronted Tom McLaury on the streets of Tombstone, it was because McLaury had violated that ordinance by failing to leave his gun at the sheriff's office.

Americans are always whining about the loss of freedoms we never really had.