Will of the people

To the editor:

“Is Lawrence going to be like Dodge City in the days of the OK Corral?” asked Thursday’s editorial in response to the new Kansas law allowing concealed carry even in city buildings and on the Kansas University campus. Oh, that it would resemble Dodge City of the 1880s or Tombstone, Ariz., in the days of the OK Corral!

Dodge City’s Ordinance No. 67 enacted Aug. 14, 1882, specified that no one could “carry concealed or otherwise about his or her person, any pistol, bowie knife, sling shot or other dangerous or deadly weapons, except County, City, or United States Officers.” The fine for doing so was $100, a near fortune in 1882. The Dodge City Times reflected, “There is a disposition to do away with the carrying of firearms, and we hope the feeling will become general. The carrying of firearms is a barbarous custom, and it’s time the practice was broken up.”

Further west in Tombstone, Ariz., the town enacted Ordinance No. 9 “To Provide Against Carrying of Deadly Weapons,” effective April 19, 1881. It read: “It is hereby declared to be unlawful for any person to carry deadly weapons, concealed or otherwise within the limits of the City of Tombstone.”

I say, let’s heed our forefathers’ wisdom, and keep guns out of city hall, our courts and off the campus of KU. Same as in 1882, that’s the will of the people. The governor and Legislature are busy turning back the clock on many other issues. I implore them to turn the clock back all the way to 1882 on gun control.