This Day in History: Shootout at the O.K. Corral, 26 Oct. 1881 [View all]

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

Seeking to enforce a ban on carrying weapons in the town of Tombstone, AZ, Deputy U.S. Marshall (and Town Marshall) Virgil Earp, his brothers Wyatt and Morgan and their friend John Henry "Doc" Holliday found themselves engaged in a shootout with a gang of bandits known as "the Cowboys:" Ike and Billy Clanton, Tom & Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne. Three outlaws died (Tom & Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton), and three gun control enforcement personnel were wounded (Virgil & Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday). The bandits would engage in revenge "reprisals" for some years after.

So get yourself a bottle of Big Nose Kate* Whiskey and toast gun control!

OK, there was a long-simmering conflict between the Earps and the Cowboys that played no small part in the events as well, as well as the local version of what we might describe as urban/rural tensions. But I''m doing the telling, so I'll do the framing.

You can read a decent summary of the events, and the subsequent trial and reprisals, at Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral
The footnotes point to a number of books on the subject if you want even more detail.
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*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Nose_Kate