Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-10-08
..PAcklNe A GUN"

That Means Carrying . Pistoi-A Habit
Falling Into C0mmendAble Disuse-
West of the Missouri river the consti-
tutional privilege of bearing arms is
universally translated into the vernac-
ular as packing = gun" By no chance
does the gun-packer ever refer to a
pistol as a pistol To him the weapon
is always q gun, whether it be the old
style Allen pepper-box or even the 81
caliber, which originated the remark
of the Texan that if he were ever shot
with one of those things and found 1T
out there would be trouble.
But whether one may prefer the
frontiersman's term or some more eie-
CANT form of expression. the chief
feature of interest to be noted is that
the habit of carrying pistol is falling
into disuse. It is not many years ago
that everyone, especially on the Pacific
coast, would as soon have thought OF
starting on a journey without tooth
brush or a pocket flask or any other
article of necessity as without pistol,
whereas now if a thorough search were
made of the passengers in a railway
train not more than one in twenty at
the very outside would be found to be
armed.
There are several reasons for the
custom of packing a gun" having
fallen into desuetude. One is the or
binary uselessness of the weapon If a
train or stage is held mp. every add
vantage lies with the robbers SO far as
the passengers are concerned.
The assailants are ready, while the
passengers are not, and they do say
that the view down the muzzle of a
Ill 80 IN fho ho Nd of a
masked or disguised robber is an ex-
perience which no one ever forgets who
ever has been through it One of the
best-known detectives of the state
alighted from a stage coach in Arizona,
stood up in line and even allowed two
handsome revolvers to be taken from
his pockets because the stage robbers
chad the drop" on him. and he knew it
A second reason for not carrying
pistol is the discomfort and inconveni-
ence of it If it be carried in the hip
pocket, as is not unusual, it drags down
all the time, and is decided nuisance
when the wearer sits down. If the
pistol be carried in the holster the belt
slips and works around until the pistol
gets into some position which makes
its possessor decidedly uncomfortable.
and there it manifests a disposition to
stay.
Still another reason is the danger
which a pistol causes, especially it it be
unloaded- 1t has been calculated that
about ffty-nine nine-hundredths per
cent of all the fatal accidents from
pistols come from weapons which
every body is sure are unloaded, and
probably half of all the rest come from
the careless or ignorant use of the
weapon, or from some desire to be
smart and show off with it Unfor-
tunately it is not the pistol wielder who
is hurt generally, but some innocent
and unlucky bystander. or some child
who has not been able to recognize the
genus stultus from a single specimen.
1t is quite time that the custom of
carrying weapons should pass into
oblivion entirely among civilized peo-
pie. unless under very exceptional cir
cumstances. During an epidemic of
robbery, such as we had here some
months ago, pistol might possibly be
useful, though to walk in the middle of
the street and blow a police whistle at
any suspicion of danger. at the same time
taking to ones heels, is generally more
effective We have outgrown the times
when every dispute, however trivial,
was settled by ap appeal to arms, and
those times can never be restored In
the present condition of life in the
United States, even in so barbarous a
country as the east fancies California
to be, packing a gun is, as a rule, a
pure affectation which would better be
dispensed with San Francisco
Chronicle