Despite the popular notion of constant gunfights in the old west, the fact of the matter is, most western towns practiced gun control in one form or another. Men coming into town had to surrender their firearms to either the law enforcement officer, or to the bartender at the saloon they frequented. It was absolutely true that plenty of cowboys, miners, loggers, and other working men would drink a lot to blow off steam after getting paid, often resulting in explosive violence, not to mention the always present outlaw element who resorted to robbery to make a buck, which is why towns often hired hardasses like Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok to enforce those gun control ordinances.
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-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer