The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-11-03

laws, and hence there should be some law
against conceahng pistols. But the mar
must be extremely obtuse who would mot
ask himself how the concealment of pis
tofs would increase these fatal duaFreIs,
since pistol carried openly in a belt
wonld be Just as handy, and Just as deadly
as II carried in his hip pocket. Numerous
are the murders which occur in civilized
life fso-called1 from the habit Of carrying
concealed weapons they are In few in NUM-
bers compared with those which take place
in the western border where no pretehse is;
made OF concealment. Why then, these
lawss Simply because the clause against
is inverted merely to avoid
the Obvious clashing the laws. themselves
with the great magma chdrtd for liberties.
Another ridiculous point is the inference
that man, wicked enough and bold
enough to commit the crime of murder, the
punishment for which is death or long linz
prisonment would be deferred therefrom
by another law, the penalty of which is a
twenty-five dollar fine. According to- my
Observation men are not often made up on
any such principle as this. 80 efei
And this suggests the only effect the law
has had or can have. II a tree is known
by its fruit law should be known by It's
effects and the effect of the laws against
concealed weapons, has been to prevent
number Of conscientious people from arm
ing themselves and so encouraging the
basef classes of society in preying upon
the defenseless members of other classes
by assuring them they will find their vic
Tins llnarmed and incapable of defense. j
do not think it would be exaggeration to
say that nine-tenths of all the murders.
soutrages. tEain-robberies and other .depre-
dations of that class which have occurred
in the past fifteen years can fairly be cred
tied to that law which by practically and
supposedly disarming the honest, lembol-
dens the dishonest to attack them. It is
not be supposed that il every man and
wemah was known to carry loaded
pistol and was able and willing to use it
when necessary. That men would bes so of
ten stopped and robbed ON the streets, or
whole trains piffaged by half dozen DASH
ing outlaws, or women outraged by brutes.
in the shape of men. Self-preservatien, -
an instinct as strong in the criminal as in
any other person.-would alone suffice to
hold in check vast numher of these tlh
wholly enterprises The robbernow calcur
lates that. of all the passengers in q GER
tain train, not more than two or three will
be armed, and by overawing these few, he
can easily capture the cash bags. Hence
the train is stopped and boarded, q con-
ductor is shot, as a good example to 9th
ers, the express bags and the passengers
are robbed, and the robbers get off scot
free, without even a parting shot to re-y
mind them OF a-hereafter In the mean
time, the one or two who men who chance
to have pistols, are thinking to themselves,
ri have pistol and might shoot one OF
the robbers, but as there is law against
carrying concealed weapons. it is hardly
probable anyone else is armed, and
should have to fight the whole gang alone,
which is more odds than l care to take"
Therefore he quietly submits to the out
rage. On the other hand, il there were no
such laws, and it was known that every
man carried his little shooting iron, some
holder spirit than the rest would find an
to say: Boys, I've got pis-
tol. and so have each one of you, we out
number the robbers and can lick them If
we try, who'll help ?" And then fifty or
a hundred pistols would flash from fifty or
q hundred hip pockets, aad the rob
bers would be put to flight, for such men
rarely or never count on resistance, and
always "puckachee" when it is determin-
edly offered. This has been the only eff
feet of these laws in practical operation,-|
they have encouraged the scoundrels, and
1isarmed honest men.
1t has been urged by some defenders of
these laws, that it is of course impossible
to entirely stop the carrying of weapons,
but that the design of the law is to reach
only that rowdy class who flourish
pistols upon unseemly occasions, |
without the slightest pretext for so doing
save a spirit of bullylsm. If this is the de-
ign, and the laws accomplished no more
han this, they might perhaps be more |
lnebj ecthnable. Though since there are
different grades of rowdyism, it seems |
scarcely fair to COMPEL the rowdy of one |
ylade, to- submit quietly to the attacks of
'owdies of lower grades when the posses
zion of q pistol might perhaps save his
ife. The sympathy Of humanity is wholly |
n favor Of granting even the vilest Grim
nails the right of sef-defense. But the |
answer to such an apology for these laws |
S that it renders honest men amenable |
% punishment to which according to this |
he law did not intend to subject them. |
The active principles of our government is |
hat there shall be no special legislation /
or or against any one class of society. /
2owdies and sporting men may not be
desirable members of society and the entire I
lass of such men may be regarded as an
element in our composite 1ifea /
But SO long as they are tolerated as class |
hey are entitled to all the rights and priv
leges under the constitution, which accrue |
o the very 'utterest" and perfectly "too
90" society. To say that the man who
lips pasteboards for livelihood shall be
egislated out of certain right, when the
anne right is tacitly accorded TO the higher
oned gamblers of the Stock Exchange,
nay be law, may be gospel, may be any-i
hing or everything except what it certainly. I
8, it is not common sense or sound logic
When we come to search for the motives
which induce men, in our days, TO carry
Weapons we shall find that they are scarcely
o discreditable to human nature as those
scriBed to them by the defenders of tiiese
avs. Before me lies paper claiming to
ave the largest circulation of any in-the
northwest territory and it must indeed be
veil supported to be able to pre-
ent it's readers with SO many square yards
f letter press for the contemplate remun-
ration of five cents. The copy before me
ontains the events of single day, and in
is columns devoted to criminal news,
that sort Of an otony do we find? Not a
leasant one, by any means, in this one
aper, delineating the events of one TWEEN
y-four hours, find mention of sixty three
riminal outrages, any one of (which would
1stify the fatal use of pistol in seif-de-
ense. 1t is not likely that all the cases of