[ QUOTE ]
The othere extreme would be to require everyone to pack. Isn't this similar to the situation that obtained in the proverbial "Wild West"?
[/ QUOTE ]
No. There was no requirement to carry guns.
[ QUOTE ]
Does anyone know if the view of the Wild West we have from movies is accurate?
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, we know. It wasn't accurate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/opinio...nyt&emc=rss
[ QUOTE ]
Were there places where virtually everyone carried a gun and were those places consequently more or less safe than they otherwise would have been?
[/ QUOTE ]
No control group. Impossible to tell what would have been.