Does Right To Own Guns Trump Right To Live?

[HassleCat]

28. And we can have guns

You wouldn't know it by listening to the NRA, but we once had more restrictive gun laws than we have now. In the old Wild West, they didn't cotton to this "open carry" business in a big way, and the local sheriff would make sure you checked your gun for the duration of your stay in his town. And he would send plenty of deputies out on the streets to enforce the ban whenever there were cattle drovers, loggers, railroad crews, etc. in town to celebrate payday. Yes, everybody carried firearms in those day, and at least half the males in any western town served in the Civil War, and had seen men shot down like dogs by the dozens, so they knew it was just plain stupid to allow a bunch of drunk cowboys to stagger around town while armed. Here we are, over 100 years later, and not nearly as smart about firearms as they were.