The attitude of a gunfighter in old-time Phoenix


As much as I enjoy the West of the Imagination, including Spaghetti Westerns, I often wonder what life was really like when men walked around with a gun on their hip. And of course, once you think about it, you realize how ridiculous "fast draw" competitions are, because men who were quick with a gun in the real West didn't necessarily have lightning-fast reflexes, and weren't always sharp shooters. They had an attitude, which is an attitude you can still see today.

Being fast with a gun in old-time Phoenix would have meant the same thing as being fast with a knife, or fast with your fists. It meant striking without hesitation. And I've known a lot of people like that, and it isn't me.

Yes, I have lightning-fast reflexes, and superb eyesight (with my glasses on!), but I would hesitate. And that would mean the end of me. So while I know the techniques, my unwillingness to hurt someone would have been fatal to me in old-time Phoenix.

So, even a Winchester '73 would have been wasted on me. And a Colt revolver wouldn't have really been an equalizer for me. While I was starting to say, "Why can't we be friends..." a person who didn't hesitate would have long since shot me, probably several times. That's the attitude of a gunfighter, or any kind of fighter. They strike, they don't hesitate.

Of course, in the movies it's all about lightning speed, and the hand being quicker than the eye. One of my favorite old west movies showed a gunfighter who would pull his gun, holster it, slap his opponent, and then do it again and again. Funny stuff, and done by just speeding up the film. I think the movie was called "Trinity", although I'm not sure. I'm sure that you can think of many instances of lightning fast hands causing fear amongst the townfolk when the gunfighter rides into town.

So no, gunfighters in old-time Phoenix didn't set a stopwatch, and practice pulling their gun out of a holster by measuring in nanoseconds. They simply had an attitude, and if you looked in their eyes, you walked away, to live another day.

Image at the top of this post: Looking north on Central towards Adams in 1909, Phoenix, Arizona.

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