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Charles L. Cotton wrote:I posted this here in the general section because this thread isn't yet another pro/con on open-carry.

I watch the Westerns Channel a good bit. Between movies they often have a fellow, Bob Boze Bell, give some western historical information that is usually pretty interesting. I did a Google search on him and he is part owner and editor of True West Magazine and apparently he's quite a historian on the "old west."

A couple of nights ago, Bell talked about open-carry in the "old west." He noted that both TV and movies show people walking around town with "six guns" on their hips, but that this was not how things really worked. According to Bell, it was common to carry openly on outside of town, but in town people concealed their guns. He even commented on the gunfight at the OK Corral noting that the court record showed Wyatt Earp stated he put his pistol in his waistband and slid it around to his back under his coat, while Virgil Earp said he put his pistol in his coat pocket. (I may have the players reversed.) At the end of this short segment, he closed by saying that open-carry is popular in TV and movies, but that's not the way it worked. When people came to town, "they concealed their guns . . . just like they do today."

How interesting to see this when the open-carry debate is in full swing.

Chas.