October 28th,
1880. A group of rowdies, loosened up
with whiskey and high spirits decided it would be a fine night to shoot their
guns into the air. Fred White, the town
marshal didn’t figure that rousting the townies with gunplay was a great idea
and so he moved to put a stop to the festivities. He found one of the men in a vacant lot and
confronted him, “I am an officer, give me your pistol.” White grabbed the barrel of the gun held by
Curly Bill Brocious. When Curly Bill
didn’t immediately comply White yelled, “Now you god-damned son of a bitch,
give me that gun. White jerked on the
barrel and the gun discharged sending a bullet into White’s groin, the muzzle
blast setting his clothing on fire. Almost
immediately Curly Bill was sent to the ground, struck in the head by a pistol
wielded by Wyatt Earp. Two days later
Fred White, age 32, died of his wound. As
a result of White’s death, an ordinance was passed by the town council
prohibiting the carrying of deadly weapons in Tombstone, Arizona.
June 2014 and Americans are strutting the streets carrying
guns; holstered pistols and long guns (often assault type rifles) slung over
their shoulders; they are in wild west parlance “heeled.” I’d like to say that we’ve come a long way in
134 years – but we apparently haven’t. In
the wake of increasing mass shootings businesses have had to do what lawmakers
lack the testicular fortitude to do.
They are banning the carrying of weapons on their premises. Starbucks, Chilis, Sonic, Jack in the Box and
Chipotle have all adopted policies banning the carrying of long guns into their
stores. The latest battleground is
Target. A group called Moms Demand
Action for Gun Sense is circulating a petition asking that the store ban the
carrying of weapons into their stores after an armed group called Open Carry Texas walked through a store. Could
it be that the gun nuts locked on to the name Target and figured this must the
place “fer bringin’ yer fowlin’ piece to?”
No Billy Bob, that’s not what they had in mind when they named the
place TARGET.