Bring back the good ol days of the Wild West Shootouts

[NightWatcher]

With the instances of the Stand Your Ground defenses, the NRA's offering SYG insurance to cover your legal fees "in the event that you have to stand your ground", and the Zombie Apocalypse that is merely days away (if it hasnt already begun), why dont we just roll things back to the days of the Wild West shootouts. If you're in a saloon, or Starbucks, and you dont like the look of some guy's jib (?), call him Yeller and whip out your sidearm and settle it like a real man.

Two cars, one parking space? shootout time.
Some guy has 11 items in the 10 items or less line? shootout time.

Why, now everyone should just strap on an iron and a bandolier and stroll through town, or Walmart, armed to the teeth. Problems could be solved so much quicker than they are now and we'd no longer need lawyers and judges (yay!)

Sure, there'd be a whole lotta death and injury (with our current healthcare system, more death than injury), but after a few years of thinning the weakest shooters from the herd, think of all the parking spaces it'd free up along with the time you'd save in traffic with fewer commuters. Hell, think of all the new jobs that would be freed up with a large number of coworkers shooting it out on a daily basis. I'm sure that the unemployment rate would drop below 1%.

[razorman]

1. That is ridiculous. I have heard the same refrain each time a gun-control measure fails;

"Letting people carry guns legally will lead to wild-west type shootouts everywhere." It never happens. Besides, Tombstone, AZ at its worst was safer than practically any street in Washington, D.C. today.

[TheWraith]

10. The meme itself shows how uneducated people are about the subject.

The "wild west" wasn't wild at all. Murders, duels, and violence were extremely rare. The "wild west" was an invention of writers who wanted a colorful story to sell to east coast audiences, so they made up tales about daily gunfights and legendary criminals.

[daaron]

16. True. The reality was far less honorable.

Wounded Knee comes to mind. Or Sand Creek, where the victorious frontiersmen used their bowie knives to collect the vaginas of their unarmed victims, riding home with them proudly displayed on the saddlehorn.

Because arming everyone to the teeth has worked so well in the past.

[Zalatix]

20. Sand Creek, WTF???

Holy shit I never knew that. I wish I never heard of that. Where's the brain bleach???

[daaron]

22. Never read "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" by D. Brown, then. :(

It WILL make a 'grown man cry like a baby'.

[RKP5637]

2. Yep, it would thin out the herd, solve population expansion, crowding,

resources, need some cash, no problem, need some fame - shoot your way to fame. Think of the potential. Think of all the jobs created for arms and ammunition. And if one wanted to really be on top, rent a predator by the hour. Hell, even the DOD could make out on this.

[datasuspect]

3. people would definitely be more polite

[coalition_unwilling]

4. The next time some rich motherfucker in a Lincoln Navigator or Cadillac Escalade

land yacht cuts me off on the 405 . . .

[Zalatix]

8. Watch out for his armed thugs, who'll be riding with him.

[coalition_unwilling]

19. They don't call me 'Quick Draw' for nothing :) - n/t

[OriginalGeek]

5. Death Penalty for 11 items in the express lane is ridiculous

Rubber bullets are plenty sufficient.

[spin]

6. Over 800,000 Floridians have concealed weapons permits ...

and yet in the seven years since "Stand Your Ground" passed in Florida there have only been approximately 200 instance where the law has been invoked. (source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1233133.ece)

The reason for this might well be that before you can get a concealed weapons permit in Florida you have to pass a background check.

If everybody in Florida did strap on a gun, I would imagine that there would be far more shootings.

I feel that the "Stand Your Ground" law in Florida will be rewritten to prevent some of the ambiguities and confusion that has been created.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

7. Gun fights are one of the biggest myths of the old west.

There were one or two, but that's about it.

[Meiko]

9. If memory serves

There was a no gun rule in place in Tombstone Arizona in 1881. The Earp's in their attempt to disarm the gang of cowboys triggered the gunfight at the OK corral, which didn't actually happen at the OK corral. It happened in an alley. Mayhem pursued and the legend was born.

[4th law of robotics]

11. Impossible

there was a gun ban in Tombstone, meaning that no gun violence could have occurred there.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

12. Sarcasm?

[4th law of robotics]

13. Aye

[Nuclear Unicorn]

24. Even that

was more of a pretext to harrass the cowboys; even if deserveedly so. However, what can be used to harrass criminals can be used to harrass law-abiding citizens, i.e. Miller v Chicago

[FarCenter]

14. Estimates vary, but cow towns had homicide rates from 50 to 150 per 100,000 annually

Which is from current New Orleans up to about three times as high.

Recall, however, that the Old West was populated by large numbers of Civil War veterans, some of which had fought in irregular units like Quantrill's Raiders during the guerrilla wars in Kansas. Many were not unaccustomed to killing people.

[daaron]

18. Until the 1890s it was CO Territorial law that every White man be armed -->

so that he could kill any Native American who stepped foot outside the Ute Territory. The White man could be arrested if he saw a Ute and didn't kill him, bringing the scalp in for proof.

Because guns solve everything. If only they had armed all those Ute, Utah would be one state over, because men would've settled things with words!

[FarCenter]

25. Yes, one difficulty with the statistics is that dead indians and Mexicans weren't always counted

[daaron]

26. Exactly. Far more died thanks to cheap guns than we will ever know. nt

[FarCenter]

27. I don't think that Colt revolvers or Winchester rifles were cheap

Colt had reduced costs considerably by adopting parts standardization and machine tooling to make firearms.

However, back in the day when cowhands made $40/month, they were quite expensive, as were the newly adopted metallic cartridges. Reasonable amount of ammunition would be require in order to become proficient with a Colt revolver.

As is true today, many of the weapons were military surplus, and many of the outlaws obtained their expertise with them during military service or through employment as lawmen.

[Bake]

15. So much for the smell of the black powder smoke

And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke.

Those who know will get the reference.

Bake

[SixString]

17. Another Guy Clark classic.

[Bake]

21. You got it!

Bake

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

23. If a jury determines that somone is innocent of murder (aquitted) in a case of self defense...

don't they deserve to have their legal fees paid for them? I mean in the eyes of the law and their peers they were found not guilty of something that likely took tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars to prove in the court of law. Should someone be forced to select a mediocre lawyer because they can't afford good representation?