Dealing with people who are carrying guns on the streets of old-time, and modern Phoenix


It's really true about out here in the West, people have guns. It's always been true, going back to the Wild West days, and it's still true. Guns and very popular in Arizona. Many people collect a LOT of them, mostly kept in storage gun lockers in their homes, but some like to carry them around in public, and walk around the streets of Phoenix carrying them.

I won't go into the legality of it, I'll let you Google that, but I'll tell you that it's a good assumption here that anybody might be carrying a gun. I've seen them riding on hips, and when I haven't seen them, I assume that they're there. And dealing with people who carry guns is a very fundamental thing for me, going back to when my big brother taught me gun safety when I was about twelve - always show respect, and assume a weapon is loaded.

As a person who has long had an interest in the old west, I've looked into it. And it's one of those things that's the West of the Imagination, and the Real West. And I enjoy both places! In the West of the Imagination, a gun has always been an equalizer, but in the Real West, it's not. I'll see if I can explain, using myself as an example.

My marksmanship has always been excellent. If you put a target out there, and ask me to hit it, I can. In fact, I'm darned good. In that way I'm better than most with a gun. But keep in mind that if you're face-to-face with someone, and you want to use a gun for self-defense, that's no advantage. And that's where I have a disadvantage: I would hesitate.

Being quick on the draw never really meant that someone could get their gun out of a holster with lightning-fast reflexes (something I also have), it has to do with being willing to shoot without any hesitation (which I don't have). That sort of cold-blooded ability is rare, and those people are always itching at the trigger. Most people, with just a drop of human compassion, would hesitate before they shot.

I've lived in Arizona for a long time, and although I know that there are people out there who are heartless killers, most aren't. Most people who carry guns around in public really won't use them, and if they have any sense at all they won't even take them out and show them in public. Guns are expensive, and carrying one around and showing it is an invitation to someone who, uh, for one reason or another, is unable to buy one.

In the very unlikely event that anyone would actually point a gun at me here in suburban Phoenix, I would give them my stuff. It's just stuff. At that point they've committed a crime, and with any luck the police will catch them and put them in prison. Of course, they could pull the trigger, in which case they would send me off to nirvana, and they would have to live the rest of their life with the image of what they'd done. I'd say that most people don't want to live with blood on their hands, not most reasonable people.

Of course, if someone fumbled for just an instant, and maybe just winged me, I would be the one having nightmares, as I'm sure that my instincts would kick in, and I would go berserk. I'm a man of peace, but I'm still a man, a full-grown man of about number-one size. If they completely missed me (which is also quite likely) I'd like to believe that I would simply knock them out, and call the police. I've had surges of adrenaline like that, and it's awful. Makes you puke. Sorry about that.

So, here's my advice to you if you're gonna be in Arizona - be nice. Treat people with respect. No road rage, no yelling at people who are taking too long on the golf course. You never know. And if you absolutely have to carry a gun around with you, carry something inexpensive, be sure it's not loaded, and never, ever, take it out.

Be safe.

Image at the top of this post: The Phoenix Gun Club in 1897.
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