The Not-So-Wild-West

Despite the typical bloodshed and death toll seen in most Westerns, there are relatively few casualties. The important cow towns of Dodge City, Ellsworth, Abilene, and Wichita saw a total of 45 gun deaths between 1870 and 1885. Comparatively, 136,000 Americans are shot every year, and someone is killed by a gun in California now every three hours.

Another common myth about the Wild West is the regularity of armed bank robberies. The West "was a considerably more civilized, more peaceful and safer environment than American society today," according to historian W. Eugene Hollon. The Second Amendment's future is still up in the air, but gun violence is still deeply embedded in American society because to films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Magnificent Seven, and Rio Bravo, which are unquestionably enjoyable.