Pushkin.

Pushkin.

It isn't often that a writer or any man is given an opportunity to destroy a figure he's always hated, a character that all his life has cluttered his landscape like a slum. And to be able to do so and get paid for it to boot is to be doubly blessed.

It isn't often that a writer or any man is given an opportunity to destroy a figure he's always hated, a character that all his life has cluttered his landscape like a slum. And to be able to do so and get paid for it to boot is to be doubly blessed.

The co creator of the greatest television western of all time was a man named John Meston.

The co creator of the greatest television western of all time was a man named John Meston.

My needed figure is the Western hero who rides along plomping his guitar, nasily singing a synthetic ballad and looking for all the world like a fugitive from a cheap circus. I spit in his milk and he llleft to go elsewhere to find somebody to pour the lead for his golden bullets. Now, the best way to destroy something bad is to write it down. Was something better, And I've got a guy I think out classes any of these phony big heads.

My needed figure is the Western hero who rides along plomping his guitar, nasily singing a synthetic ballad and looking for all the world like a fugitive from a cheap circus. I spit in his milk and he llleft to go elsewhere to find somebody to pour the lead for his golden bullets. Now, the best way to destroy something bad is to write it down. Was something better, And I've got a guy I think out classes any of these phony big heads.

Meston gave the world gun Smoke, which ran on CBS for an astounding twenty seasons from nineteen fifty five to nineteen seventy five, one of the most widely watched TV shows ever. When it's run finally ended, the La Times film critic referred to it as our own Iliad and Odyssey, only in the place of Odysseus and Achilles, Meston gave us Matt Dillon, lanky, laconic, impossibly brave, one of the great reluctant heroes in television history.

Meston gave the world gun Smoke, which ran on CBS for an astounding twenty seasons from nineteen fifty five to nineteen seventy five, one of the most widely watched TV shows ever. When it's run finally ended, the La Times film critic referred to it as our own Iliad and Odyssey, only in the place of Odysseus and Achilles, Meston gave us Matt Dillon, lanky, laconic, impossibly brave, one of the great reluctant heroes in television history.

This hair is probably red. If he's got any left. He'd be handsomer than he is if he had better manners. But life and his enemies have left him looking a little beat up. And I suppose having seen his mother back about eighteen four body struggling to take a bath in a wooden washtub with a fully undressing left his soul a little warped. Anyway, they'd have to be something wrong with him, or he wouldn't have hired on as a United States Marshal and the heyday of Dives City, Kansas Dodge at that time was the wildest town in America, and it was populated by men just as warped and more so than Matt Dillon.

This hair is probably red. If he's got any left. He'd be handsomer than he is if he had better manners. But life and his enemies have left him looking a little beat up. And I suppose having seen his mother back about eighteen four body struggling to take a bath in a wooden washtub with a fully undressing left his soul a little warped. Anyway, they'd have to be something wrong with him, or he wouldn't have hired on as a United States Marshal and the heyday of Dives City, Kansas Dodge at that time was the wildest town in America, and it was populated by men just as warped and more so than Matt Dillon.

My name is Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood. This episode is about Westerns and the long shadow they've cast across American life. It's possible you've never thought about westerns, maybe you've never even seen one, but your parents and particularly your grandparents most certainly did. In the mid nineteen fifties, westerns took up a third of all evening television viewing time. If you lived in a major city, lake New York, you had your choice of fifty one different westerns in a given week. And what were westerns? Well, they were stories about big strong men. The heroes of the top six westerns of nineteen sixty two averaged six foot four and two hundred and ten pounds, white, big strong men. There wasn't a lot of ethnic variation in the TV Western. There weren't a lot of women or families, even though the reason all those pioneers moved to the Wild West was of course to provide a better life for their families. There wasn't a lot of moral ambiguity or introspection or shades of gray. These were action shows. But what was there a lot of There were a lot of guns. And in this installment of our series on gun violence, I want to figure out what it means that an entire generation of Americans grew up watching a world in which big strong men shot at each other. With guns in the act absence of any kind of cultural or moral or psychological ambiguity. Our case study gun Smoke, the greatest of all the TV westerns, and one episode in particular, Season one, episode eight Kites Reward. Picture a long, dusty street straight out of the Old West, downtown Dodge City, the most infamous of the cattle towns of the eighteen seventies. Long row of ramshackle wooden buildings, bars, stables, a general store, cowboys sauntering to and fro. Our hero Matt Dillon is sitting on a porch talking to his friend Chester. They spot a man, a stranger, lurking around the long Branch saloon. Then a second stranger, much younger, handsome, blonde, approaches on horseback and dismounts.

My name is Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood. This episode is about Westerns and the long shadow they've cast across American life. It's possible you've never thought about westerns, maybe you've never even seen one, but your parents and particularly your grandparents most certainly did. In the mid nineteen fifties, westerns took up a third of all evening television viewing time. If you lived in a major city, lake New York, you had your choice of fifty one different westerns in a given week. And what were westerns? Well, they were stories about big strong men. The heroes of the top six westerns of nineteen sixty two averaged six foot four and two hundred and ten pounds, white, big strong men. There wasn't a lot of ethnic variation in the TV Western. There weren't a lot of women or families, even though the reason all those pioneers moved to the Wild West was of course to provide a better life for their families. There wasn't a lot of moral ambiguity or introspection or shades of gray. These were action shows. But what was there a lot of There were a lot of guns. And in this installment of our series on gun violence, I want to figure out what it means that an entire generation of Americans grew up watching a world in which big strong men shot at each other. With guns in the act absence of any kind of cultural or moral or psychological ambiguity. Our case study gun Smoke, the greatest of all the TV westerns, and one episode in particular, Season one, episode eight Kites Reward. Picture a long, dusty street straight out of the Old West, downtown Dodge City, the most infamous of the cattle towns of the eighteen seventies. Long row of ramshackle wooden buildings, bars, stables, a general store, cowboys sauntering to and fro. Our hero Matt Dillon is sitting on a porch talking to his friend Chester. They spot a man, a stranger, lurking around the long Branch saloon. Then a second stranger, much younger, handsome, blonde, approaches on horseback and dismounts.

Who's that.

Who's that.

Some betrayal hand come to lose his wages?

Some betrayal hand come to lose his wages?

Probably The blonde man walks into a bar orders a beer. The older man, the one who had been lurking, follows him in, pulls out a sick shooter and says, in that biting tone peculiar to this era of TV villain, turn.

Probably The blonde man walks into a bar orders a beer. The older man, the one who had been lurking, follows him in, pulls out a sick shooter and says, in that biting tone peculiar to this era of TV villain, turn.

Around, keep your hand away from that gun. I'm gonna take your gun.

Around, keep your hand away from that gun. I'm gonna take your gun.

No, you're not.

No, you're not.

You want to die, don't matter none to me.

You want to die, don't matter none to me.

Go ahead, all right, But.

Go ahead, all right, But.

The young man is much too quick for his foe. He pulls out his revolver in what seems like a heartbeat. His pursuer lies dead on the floor just as the man of the law, Marshall Matt Dillon, comes rushing in self defense.

The young man is much too quick for his foe. He pulls out his revolver in what seems like a heartbeat. His pursuer lies dead on the floor just as the man of the law, Marshall Matt Dillon, comes rushing in self defense.

Marshall, I want your gun. I ain't right of a self defense, pure and simple. I said, I want your gun, all right, take it.

Marshall, I want your gun. I ain't right of a self defense, pure and simple. I said, I want your gun, all right, take it.

And Matt Dylan takes his gun away. Now let's pause here because this is a hugely significant moment. First thing, maybe an obvious thing, this whole scene is very American. CBS made a Western sett in Canada at around the same time. It was about a mountain named Sergeant Preston who went around saving damsels in distress with the aid of an adorable dog named King. Sergeant Preston never resorted to violence. He relied on his wit, his courage, and the assistance of his adorable dog King. How did every episode end? Sergeant Preston turns to King and says, well, King, this case is closed. I mean, how Canadian is that? It's one of my greatest regrets that during my Canadian childhood. We didn't have a television in our house, and so I never got a chance to learn of the role large fluffy dogs played in Taming the Canadian North. Oh, but gun smoke, that's a different story. Episodes of gun Smoke did not end with Matt Dillon saying good Doggie, Good dogie. Second thing, why do we care so much about gun smoke? Because, and this is important, I'm trying to solve a puzzle having to do with the twenty twenty two case of New York State Pistol and Rifle Association the Bruin the Landmark decision, where the Supreme Court ruled that a New York state law restricting handgun licenses was unconstitutional. If you listen to the first episode of this mini series, which I dearly hope you do before you listen to this one, you'll know I have strong feeling about the Court's infatuation in that case with a certain disputatious seventeenth century slave trader named Sir John Knight. But here we are concerned with a broader puzzle. It came during oral arguments. Oral arguments are a big deal. Lawyers of both sides gathered to present their arguments publicly before all the assembled justices. Arguments are tested, questions are asked, the whole thing goes on for hours. It's Daniel in the Lions, then one lawyer versus nine of the keenest legal minds in the country. So November third, twenty twenty one, the Solicitor General of the State of New York is up at the front of the palatial hearing room. Barbara Underwood, serious glasses, kindly smile, kind of looks like your grandmother, that is, if your grandmother had argued twenty two cases before the Supreme Court.

And Matt Dylan takes his gun away. Now let's pause here because this is a hugely significant moment. First thing, maybe an obvious thing, this whole scene is very American. CBS made a Western sett in Canada at around the same time. It was about a mountain named Sergeant Preston who went around saving damsels in distress with the aid of an adorable dog named King. Sergeant Preston never resorted to violence. He relied on his wit, his courage, and the assistance of his adorable dog King. How did every episode end? Sergeant Preston turns to King and says, well, King, this case is closed. I mean, how Canadian is that? It's one of my greatest regrets that during my Canadian childhood. We didn't have a television in our house, and so I never got a chance to learn of the role large fluffy dogs played in Taming the Canadian North. Oh, but gun smoke, that's a different story. Episodes of gun Smoke did not end with Matt Dillon saying good Doggie, Good dogie. Second thing, why do we care so much about gun smoke? Because, and this is important, I'm trying to solve a puzzle having to do with the twenty twenty two case of New York State Pistol and Rifle Association the Bruin the Landmark decision, where the Supreme Court ruled that a New York state law restricting handgun licenses was unconstitutional. If you listen to the first episode of this mini series, which I dearly hope you do before you listen to this one, you'll know I have strong feeling about the Court's infatuation in that case with a certain disputatious seventeenth century slave trader named Sir John Knight. But here we are concerned with a broader puzzle. It came during oral arguments. Oral arguments are a big deal. Lawyers of both sides gathered to present their arguments publicly before all the assembled justices. Arguments are tested, questions are asked, the whole thing goes on for hours. It's Daniel in the Lions, then one lawyer versus nine of the keenest legal minds in the country. So November third, twenty twenty one, the Solicitor General of the State of New York is up at the front of the palatial hearing room. Barbara Underwood, serious glasses, kindly smile, kind of looks like your grandmother, that is, if your grandmother had argued twenty two cases before the Supreme Court.

Mister Chief Justice, and may have please the Court. For centuries, English and American law have imposed limits on carrying firearms in public and the interest of public safety.

Mister Chief Justice, and may have please the Court. For centuries, English and American law have imposed limits on carrying firearms in public and the interest of public safety.

She begins with a detailed explanation of how New York State is justified in not letting anyone carry a handgun who wants to carry a handgun. But then she's interrupted by Samuel Alito, one of the most conservative members of the Court and almost certainly the grumpiest.

She begins with a detailed explanation of how New York State is justified in not letting anyone carry a handgun who wants to carry a handgun. But then she's interrupted by Samuel Alito, one of the most conservative members of the Court and almost certainly the grumpiest.

Could I explore what that means for ordinary law biding citizens who feel they need to carry a firearm for self defense. So I want you to think about people like this, people who work late at night in Manhattan. It might be somebody who cleans offices, might be a doorman at an apartment, might be a nurse or an orderly might be somebody who washes dishes. None of these people has a criminal record. They're all law biding citizens. They get off work around me, maybe even after midnight. They have to commute home by subway, maybe by bus. When they arrive at the subway station or the bus stop, they have to walk some distance through a high crime area.

Could I explore what that means for ordinary law biding citizens who feel they need to carry a firearm for self defense. So I want you to think about people like this, people who work late at night in Manhattan. It might be somebody who cleans offices, might be a doorman at an apartment, might be a nurse or an orderly might be somebody who washes dishes. None of these people has a criminal record. They're all law biding citizens. They get off work around me, maybe even after midnight. They have to commute home by subway, maybe by bus. When they arrive at the subway station or the bus stop, they have to walk some distance through a high crime area.

They're scared to death, Alito said, So why shouldn't they be allowed to carry a handgun on their subway ride home? Now, it should be pointed out that Barbara Underwood has spent years working in the DA's office in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. She's a New Yorker. She's familiar with the subway. Alito, meanwhile, is a kid from New Jersey, went to school at Princeton, worked most of his life in the New Jersey suburbs before moving to the Washington, DC suburbs. I'm going to guess that most of what he knows about the New York subway is from old beastie boys. Videos that he was trying to stop his kids from watching. So Underwood says, as any long time subway rider would say.

They're scared to death, Alito said, So why shouldn't they be allowed to carry a handgun on their subway ride home? Now, it should be pointed out that Barbara Underwood has spent years working in the DA's office in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. She's a New Yorker. She's familiar with the subway. Alito, meanwhile, is a kid from New Jersey, went to school at Princeton, worked most of his life in the New Jersey suburbs before moving to the Washington, DC suburbs. I'm going to guess that most of what he knows about the New York subway is from old beastie boys. Videos that he was trying to stop his kids from watching. So Underwood says, as any long time subway rider would say.

I think the extra problem in Manhattan is that you're hypothetical quite appropriately entailed the subways, entailed public transit, and there are lots of people on the subways even at midnight. As I can say from personal experience and the particular specter of a lot of armed people in an enclosed space.

I think the extra problem in Manhattan is that you're hypothetical quite appropriately entailed the subways, entailed public transit, and there are lots of people on the subways even at midnight. As I can say from personal experience and the particular specter of a lot of armed people in an enclosed space.

There are a lot of armed people on the streets of New York and in the subways late at night right now, aren't there.

There are a lot of armed people on the streets of New York and in the subways late at night right now, aren't there.

I don't know that there are a lot of armed people.

I don't know that there are a lot of armed people.

No first thing here. Alito clearly thinks New York City is some kind of modern day dodge city. It's not, of course. It's one of the safest big cities in the country. The number of gun crimes per capita in New York City is a fraction of what it is in say, Jacksonville, Florida, or New Orleans or Birmingham, Alabama, or literally dozens and dozens of other American cities. New York City is an exception to the general tide of violence in the United States, in part because of the law that the bruin case seeks to overturn. But whatever, something about the idea of New York City makes Justice Alito very nervous, and he thinks, as a result, the prudent course for any late night commuter is to be packing heat. But underward knows different. There are a lot of people on the subway even at midnight. As I can say from personal experience, lawyers work late, lots and lots of times. She's taken the two, or the three or the eight train back home at night. She did not find the experience as terrifying as Justice Alito apparently believes it to be. And as he's talking, she's clearly imagining the alternate universe where Alito gets his way. It's late at night. There's a confrontation at one end of the car. One guy pulls a gun, because per Justice Alito's instructions, he's come prepared for anything untoward happening. In response, the other guy pulls his gun. The two of them starts shooting, but of course they're terrified, and they're spraying bullets everywhere because handguns, as even the most devoted gun lover will tell you, are really, really hard to shoot accurately. Even under the best of circumstances, with people who know what they're doing and practice every day. And these are not the best of circumstances. And these are not people who practice every day. They are in justice Alito's hypothetical doormen, nurses and dishwashers, people who have worked long, hard days and are exhausted and have kids at home and don't exactly have the time to drive to a shooting range every weekend and fire through two hundred rounds. So there's bullets everywhere, and everyone else on the train is screaming and rushing to one end of the car and hammering on the doors and climbing over each other to get out, but of course they can't. There's glass everywhere because one of those errant shots took out a window, blood on the floor. A third person and then a fourth pull out their handguns because everyone's gotten a handgun fever. And just then the chain goes underneath the East River for like two minutes and the lights go out, which they sometimes do. I mean, I guarantee you, as someone who has taken the subways like Barbara Underwood for most of my adult life, this is the number one night mercenario of every single New Yorker, but not for Samuel Alito of Hamilton Township, New Jersey.

No first thing here. Alito clearly thinks New York City is some kind of modern day dodge city. It's not, of course. It's one of the safest big cities in the country. The number of gun crimes per capita in New York City is a fraction of what it is in say, Jacksonville, Florida, or New Orleans or Birmingham, Alabama, or literally dozens and dozens of other American cities. New York City is an exception to the general tide of violence in the United States, in part because of the law that the bruin case seeks to overturn. But whatever, something about the idea of New York City makes Justice Alito very nervous, and he thinks, as a result, the prudent course for any late night commuter is to be packing heat. But underward knows different. There are a lot of people on the subway even at midnight. As I can say from personal experience, lawyers work late, lots and lots of times. She's taken the two, or the three or the eight train back home at night. She did not find the experience as terrifying as Justice Alito apparently believes it to be. And as he's talking, she's clearly imagining the alternate universe where Alito gets his way. It's late at night. There's a confrontation at one end of the car. One guy pulls a gun, because per Justice Alito's instructions, he's come prepared for anything untoward happening. In response, the other guy pulls his gun. The two of them starts shooting, but of course they're terrified, and they're spraying bullets everywhere because handguns, as even the most devoted gun lover will tell you, are really, really hard to shoot accurately. Even under the best of circumstances, with people who know what they're doing and practice every day. And these are not the best of circumstances. And these are not people who practice every day. They are in justice Alito's hypothetical doormen, nurses and dishwashers, people who have worked long, hard days and are exhausted and have kids at home and don't exactly have the time to drive to a shooting range every weekend and fire through two hundred rounds. So there's bullets everywhere, and everyone else on the train is screaming and rushing to one end of the car and hammering on the doors and climbing over each other to get out, but of course they can't. There's glass everywhere because one of those errant shots took out a window, blood on the floor. A third person and then a fourth pull out their handguns because everyone's gotten a handgun fever. And just then the chain goes underneath the East River for like two minutes and the lights go out, which they sometimes do. I mean, I guarantee you, as someone who has taken the subways like Barbara Underwood for most of my adult life, this is the number one night mercenario of every single New Yorker, but not for Samuel Alito of Hamilton Township, New Jersey.

With illegal guns.

With illegal guns.

If what I'm talking about, how many illegal guns were seized by the New York Police Department last year? Do you have any idea?

If what I'm talking about, how many illegal guns were seized by the New York Police Department last year? Do you have any idea?

I don't have that number, but I'm sure there's it's a substantial number.

I don't have that number, but I'm sure there's it's a substantial number.

But the people are all these people with illegal guns, They are on the subway, they're walking around the streets. But the ordinary hardworking law bonding people I mentioned, no, they can't be armed.

But the people are all these people with illegal guns, They are on the subway, they're walking around the streets. But the ordinary hardworking law bonding people I mentioned, no, they can't be armed.

Samuel Alito is in the grip of a peculiar and powerful fantasy. It says that below the surface of one of the safest cities in the country, late at night, all rules of civilization have been suspended. You're on your own. And Barbara Underwood, who no doubt prepared long and hard for this day before the highest court in the land, does not seem to have prepared for this. I mean, who would How would she have guessed that Samuel Alito thinks the A train is lord of the flies?

Samuel Alito is in the grip of a peculiar and powerful fantasy. It says that below the surface of one of the safest cities in the country, late at night, all rules of civilization have been suspended. You're on your own. And Barbara Underwood, who no doubt prepared long and hard for this day before the highest court in the land, does not seem to have prepared for this. I mean, who would How would she have guessed that Samuel Alito thinks the A train is lord of the flies?

Well, I think the subways. When there are problems on the subways are protected by the transit police. Is what happens because the idea of proliferating arms on the subway is precisely I think what terrifies a great many people. The other point is that proliferating guns in a populated area where there is law enforcement jeopardizes law enforcement because when they come, they now can't tell who's shooting, and the shooting proliferates and accelerates.

Well, I think the subways. When there are problems on the subways are protected by the transit police. Is what happens because the idea of proliferating arms on the subway is precisely I think what terrifies a great many people. The other point is that proliferating guns in a populated area where there is law enforcement jeopardizes law enforcement because when they come, they now can't tell who's shooting, and the shooting proliferates and accelerates.

She's trying really, really hard at this point, not just to say, are you effing kidding me, Jersey boy? Have you ever ridden a subway before? But Barbara Underwood is a lawyer of law experience. Her obligation is to her client, not her own mounting feelings of incredulity. So she takes a deep breath and holds it in.

She's trying really, really hard at this point, not just to say, are you effing kidding me, Jersey boy? Have you ever ridden a subway before? But Barbara Underwood is a lawyer of law experience. Her obligation is to her client, not her own mounting feelings of incredulity. So she takes a deep breath and holds it in.

And in the end, that's why there's a substantial law enforcement interest in not having widespread caring of guns.

And in the end, that's why there's a substantial law enforcement interest in not having widespread caring of guns.

So here's the puzzle. Where did this completely lunatic idea come from? How did Samuel Alito legal powerhouse come up with this weird, violent fantasy with the best path to ensuring the safety of a subway rider is to encourage that rider and all of his fellow commuters to stuff a handgun in their waistband and face down their assailant Mono Amano on the A train as it passes underneath the East River. There are countless law review articles devoted to the origins of the American love affair with guns, histories of the evolution of our thinking about the Second Amendment. When confronted with a powerful idea, we assume that it has deep and serious roots. But come on, this isn't an idea. It's a fantasy. And where do fantasies come from from? The stories were told in childhood. When I look at grown up Samuel Alito dreaming about bad guys on the A train, I think of little Sammy Alito growing up in the nineteen fifties in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, and I wonder did he watch one to many episodes of gun Smoke, in particular episode eight from season one, Kites Reward. In the eighteen seventies, cattle would be herded to market from Texas to Kansas up to the so called cattle towns that were junction points connected to major railway lines. The longest lived and most infamous of those cattle towns was Dodge City. It sits on the banks of the Arkansas River and was connected by rail to the east to Kansas City. In its heyday, Dodge City was like Fort Lauderdale during spring break, only with a fraction of the girls, just lots of young men, alcohol and guns. Hundred full time residents, nineteen bars, filled with fortune seekers, buffalo hunters, cowboys, gamblers, desperadoes, what they call in Western's hard characters. Here's a typical Dodge City story that appeared in the Witchtop Beacon in November of eighteen seventy two. Three or four Texas men, the paper reported, took over the Kelly and Hunt dance hall. One of them made whiskey and sugar free to everybody, while the others kept up the dance music and condiments until daylight. I think you're getting the picture. The article goes on. The dance room was also occupied by a gambling outfit. Oh okay, One of the Texas men who were giving away the free booze and sugar accuses one of the gamblers of cheating end quote, grabbed up the entire wealth of the concern to appropriate it unquote, whereupon one of the gamblers fractured skull of one of the Texans with a six shooter. He dies the cowboys come to the aid of their fallen comrade. There's a gun battle, two more shot dead, a third wounded. The bodies are thrown out onto the street, and here's the crucial detail, the party goes merrily on. That's Dodge City. As you can imagine, the tabloids of the era couldn't get enough of this. The expression, which I'm sure you've heard, We've got to get out of Dodge is a reference to Dodge City. So what is gun Smoke. It's a TV show set in Dodge City, where the hero, Matt Dillon, has the job of restoring law and order amidst the mayhem. Every other episode begins with a shot of Dylan squaring off against a bad guy in the main street of Dodge He outdraws him, shoots the bad guy dead. Then after the credits, we see Dylan walking through a cemetery where all the many dead are buried, and in voiceover, delivering a little homily about the enormous weight on his shoulders.

So here's the puzzle. Where did this completely lunatic idea come from? How did Samuel Alito legal powerhouse come up with this weird, violent fantasy with the best path to ensuring the safety of a subway rider is to encourage that rider and all of his fellow commuters to stuff a handgun in their waistband and face down their assailant Mono Amano on the A train as it passes underneath the East River. There are countless law review articles devoted to the origins of the American love affair with guns, histories of the evolution of our thinking about the Second Amendment. When confronted with a powerful idea, we assume that it has deep and serious roots. But come on, this isn't an idea. It's a fantasy. And where do fantasies come from from? The stories were told in childhood. When I look at grown up Samuel Alito dreaming about bad guys on the A train, I think of little Sammy Alito growing up in the nineteen fifties in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, and I wonder did he watch one to many episodes of gun Smoke, in particular episode eight from season one, Kites Reward. In the eighteen seventies, cattle would be herded to market from Texas to Kansas up to the so called cattle towns that were junction points connected to major railway lines. The longest lived and most infamous of those cattle towns was Dodge City. It sits on the banks of the Arkansas River and was connected by rail to the east to Kansas City. In its heyday, Dodge City was like Fort Lauderdale during spring break, only with a fraction of the girls, just lots of young men, alcohol and guns. Hundred full time residents, nineteen bars, filled with fortune seekers, buffalo hunters, cowboys, gamblers, desperadoes, what they call in Western's hard characters. Here's a typical Dodge City story that appeared in the Witchtop Beacon in November of eighteen seventy two. Three or four Texas men, the paper reported, took over the Kelly and Hunt dance hall. One of them made whiskey and sugar free to everybody, while the others kept up the dance music and condiments until daylight. I think you're getting the picture. The article goes on. The dance room was also occupied by a gambling outfit. Oh okay, One of the Texas men who were giving away the free booze and sugar accuses one of the gamblers of cheating end quote, grabbed up the entire wealth of the concern to appropriate it unquote, whereupon one of the gamblers fractured skull of one of the Texans with a six shooter. He dies the cowboys come to the aid of their fallen comrade. There's a gun battle, two more shot dead, a third wounded. The bodies are thrown out onto the street, and here's the crucial detail, the party goes merrily on. That's Dodge City. As you can imagine, the tabloids of the era couldn't get enough of this. The expression, which I'm sure you've heard, We've got to get out of Dodge is a reference to Dodge City. So what is gun Smoke. It's a TV show set in Dodge City, where the hero, Matt Dillon, has the job of restoring law and order amidst the mayhem. Every other episode begins with a shot of Dylan squaring off against a bad guy in the main street of Dodge He outdraws him, shoots the bad guy dead. Then after the credits, we see Dylan walking through a cemetery where all the many dead are buried, and in voiceover, delivering a little homily about the enormous weight on his shoulders.

They all drifted here to Dodge City one time or another. The buffalo killers, the saddle bums, the spoilers. It's the end of the track and the start of the wilderness, the dumping ground of odds and ands and beginnings and leftovers. It's a place to stop and take the kind of pleasure you need. It's a place to pass through, and sometimes it's a place to die.

They all drifted here to Dodge City one time or another. The buffalo killers, the saddle bums, the spoilers. It's the end of the track and the start of the wilderness, the dumping ground of odds and ands and beginnings and leftovers. It's a place to stop and take the kind of pleasure you need. It's a place to pass through, and sometimes it's a place to die.

So episode eight, Season one, Kite's Reward. The young blonde man's name is Andy. He's just shot the stranger dead. Dylan has taken his gun. They go back to Dylan's office where Andy is giving a lecture.

So episode eight, Season one, Kite's Reward. The young blonde man's name is Andy. He's just shot the stranger dead. Dylan has taken his gun. They go back to Dylan's office where Andy is giving a lecture.

Trouble sure come running after you in a hurry, didn't it.

Trouble sure come running after you in a hurry, didn't it.

What's a man supposed to do in this town? Stand there and take a belly full of bullets?

What's a man supposed to do in this town? Stand there and take a belly full of bullets?

Then Dylan says, I can give you back your gun, but I think you shouldn't wear one anymore. You're too good with it. You're going to get a reputation. People will come after you to see if they can.

Then Dylan says, I can give you back your gun, but I think you shouldn't wear one anymore. You're too good with it. You're going to get a reputation. People will come after you to see if they can.

Best you on Sandy. That's happening to you. Anybody who can use a gun the way you can has to make a choice. You can go on using it, or you can quit before you.

Best you on Sandy. That's happening to you. Anybody who can use a gun the way you can has to make a choice. You can go on using it, or you can quit before you.

Get blood all of you.

Get blood all of you.

They have a heart to heart. Dylan is the wise father figure Andy clearly never had. Dylan, why don't you quit wearing it? Andy, I don't know, I'd feel kind of naked, I guess.

They have a heart to heart. Dylan is the wise father figure Andy clearly never had. Dylan, why don't you quit wearing it? Andy, I don't know, I'd feel kind of naked, I guess.

Dylan persists, that's gonna be one man after the other from now on. You're gonna have to kill, whether you like it or not. But I'm not gonna watch it.

Dylan persists, that's gonna be one man after the other from now on. You're gonna have to kill, whether you like it or not. But I'm not gonna watch it.

Now.

Now.

You leave that.

You leave that.

Gun off, or you get out of dodge and go do your killing somewhere else.

Gun off, or you get out of dodge and go do your killing somewhere else.

Finally, Andy agrees, unbuckles his gun belt, hands over his six shooter and holster. All right, let's pause once again because there are so many things to discuss. First of all, let's deal with the non trivial matter of the homicide that just occurred inside the Long Branch Saloon. To help put this event in some kind of statistical perspective, I recruited the services of my very able assistant and producer, Tali Emma. Okay, so I a couple of weeks ago, I gave you an assignment. Just just describe. Describe First the assignment.

Finally, Andy agrees, unbuckles his gun belt, hands over his six shooter and holster. All right, let's pause once again because there are so many things to discuss. First of all, let's deal with the non trivial matter of the homicide that just occurred inside the Long Branch Saloon. To help put this event in some kind of statistical perspective, I recruited the services of my very able assistant and producer, Tali Emma. Okay, so I a couple of weeks ago, I gave you an assignment. Just just describe. Describe First the assignment.

So the assignment was to watch Well, first you said to watch all of gun Smoke, which is bitish. Yeah, it's like twenty seasons something like that. But then the assignment turned into watching the first two seasons of gun Smoke.

So the assignment was to watch Well, first you said to watch all of gun Smoke, which is bitish. Yeah, it's like twenty seasons something like that. But then the assignment turned into watching the first two seasons of gun Smoke.

Tally ordered the complete Gun Smoke collection on DVD. Do you even know what a DVD is?

Tally ordered the complete Gun Smoke collection on DVD. Do you even know what a DVD is?

Like?

Like?

This is like so prior generation.

This is like so prior generation.

Oh, I grew up watching DVDs.

Oh, I grew up watching DVDs.

Just check just check it.

Just check just check it.

But I don't. I don't have a DVD player. So I got the DVDs and and then I wound up having to watch on my roommate's PS four, which was kind of funny.

But I don't. I don't have a DVD player. So I got the DVDs and and then I wound up having to watch on my roommate's PS four, which was kind of funny.

This is the first time in human history someone watched gun Smoke on a PS four I think it's that station. There are thirty nine episodes per season, so Talie watched seventy eight in total, a statistically representative sample. Yeah.

This is the first time in human history someone watched gun Smoke on a PS four I think it's that station. There are thirty nine episodes per season, so Talie watched seventy eight in total, a statistically representative sample. Yeah.

So the assignment was to watch every episode and make a note of anytime there's a gun shot and anytime there's a homicide. So I counted anytime somebody was killed on purpose. So there's a few instances of someone accidentally getting shot, and I didn't count that as homicide and was.

So the assignment was to watch every episode and make a note of anytime there's a gun shot and anytime there's a homicide. So I counted anytime somebody was killed on purpose. So there's a few instances of someone accidentally getting shot, and I didn't count that as homicide and was.

And then you created a kind of an Excel spreadsheet. Yeah, and in which you also described the nature of the shooting. Yes, yes, And so give me the give me the bottom line on the statistics of number of gunshots and homicides in the first two seasons. Of Gun Smoke.

And then you created a kind of an Excel spreadsheet. Yeah, and in which you also described the nature of the shooting. Yes, yes, And so give me the give me the bottom line on the statistics of number of gunshots and homicides in the first two seasons. Of Gun Smoke.

All right, let me just pull this up really quick, Okay, So starting with season one, we had a total of two hundred and twelve gun shots in the whole season, and this includes gunshots in the air just to scare people or something like that. And then of those two hundred and twelve, one hundred and thirty two were shots specifically pointed at people. There were fifty nine homicides, and forty six of those homicides were from gunshots.

All right, let me just pull this up really quick, Okay, So starting with season one, we had a total of two hundred and twelve gun shots in the whole season, and this includes gunshots in the air just to scare people or something like that. And then of those two hundred and twelve, one hundred and thirty two were shots specifically pointed at people. There were fifty nine homicides, and forty six of those homicides were from gunshots.

Okay. And then season two.

Okay. And then season two.

So the number of gunshots that I counted for season two was one hundred and fifty one. Of those, there were fifty two homicides, and of the gunshots in total in the season, one hundred and eleven were pointed specifically at people.

So the number of gunshots that I counted for season two was one hundred and fifty one. Of those, there were fifty two homicides, and of the gunshots in total in the season, one hundred and eleven were pointed specifically at people.

As far as I can tell, Tali performed the first ever statistically rigorous forensic analysis of the gun Smoke archive, you know, telling I went, I used those numbers and I calculated independently what the homicide rate per one hundred thousand is for the town of Dodge as depicted in Gun Smoke, and that works out, given there's twelve hundred people in Dodge, a homicide rate of I think forty nine hundred and seventeen per hundred thousand, which would be like eight times higher than the highest homicide rate in any city in the United States. To god, it's like the most murderous, it's the most There was one episode where eight people were killed.

As far as I can tell, Tali performed the first ever statistically rigorous forensic analysis of the gun Smoke archive, you know, telling I went, I used those numbers and I calculated independently what the homicide rate per one hundred thousand is for the town of Dodge as depicted in Gun Smoke, and that works out, given there's twelve hundred people in Dodge, a homicide rate of I think forty nine hundred and seventeen per hundred thousand, which would be like eight times higher than the highest homicide rate in any city in the United States. To god, it's like the most murderous, it's the most There was one episode where eight people were killed.

Yeah, yeah, that was all it once too. I remember that episode.

Yeah, yeah, that was all it once too. I remember that episode.

That's a mass shooting. Yes, the writers of Gunsmoke were committed to portraying Dodge City as a very, very dangerous place. Now was dodge in real life that dangerous? Was it actually the case that a river of blood flowed through the center of Dodge City, Kansas. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, there was so much myth making that surrounded Dodge City that for the longest time, people assumed that the mythical Dodge City and the actual Dodge City were the same. This was the wild West. But a homicide is a matter of record. Towns, even deeply dysfunctional towns, collect death certificates. They have newspapers that report on murders, court records that document criminal trials, graveyards where people are buried. And in the nineteen sixties, a historian named Robert Diykster decided to fact check the claims of Dodge City. Here's what he discovered. In eighteen seventy two, the year Dodge City was founded, the homicide count was eighteen, which in a town of twelve hundred people is nuts, but that was before the town had a police force. They promptly got themselves a county sheriff, and for the next couple of years there are no homicides at all. And for the eleven years that follow until the cattle trading period ends, Dodge City averages one point six homicides a year, which is still a lot for a small town, but not that bad for a place that's basically spring Break on steroids. The real Dodge City is nothing like the mythical Dodge City. The real Dodge City is proof that lawn order works. You bring in a lawman and the place goes back to normal, which is one hundred percent the opposite lesson of television's Dodge City, isn't it Gunsmoke says that you can be blessed with a diligent, wise rangye, indefatigable, courageous us marshal, the legendary Matt Dillon, and he will invariably catch the bad guy and gun him down on the street. But at the very thing that police are supposed to do and in fact do in the real world, that is, stop murders from happening. Matt Dillon is helpless. He's the US Marshal for Dodge City for twenty seasons, and the bodies just keep piling up. He's the head of law enforcement in a town with an implied homicide rate eighty times higher than Saint Louis, Missouri, the murder capital of the Western world. He's terrible at his job. He should have been run out of town, and yet he is not, because in the bizarre fantasy being peddled by gun Smoke, there are so many bad guys and so many guns, and so many shootouts and bars that every man must take responsibility for protecting himself. If you have a quiet drink at the Long Branch saloon and a stranger comes in with an itchy finger, you have to be prepared to defend yourself. It's up to you, because there's no guarantee that Matt Dillon will rush in in time to help you. Now do I worry that Lesson reverberated with Little Sammy Alito watching Gun Smoke on his parents black and White RCA back in Hamilton Downship, New Jersey. Yes, I do. By the way, it wasn't just Aledo. Right after Alito goes off on his strange rant about the perils of the A train, Guess who chimes in justice Brett Cavanaugh. Of course he does. Brett Cavanaugh, child of the Washington DC suburbs, whose only experience of mass transit was being carpooled to private school in the back of his mother's Dodge Mini van.

That's a mass shooting. Yes, the writers of Gunsmoke were committed to portraying Dodge City as a very, very dangerous place. Now was dodge in real life that dangerous? Was it actually the case that a river of blood flowed through the center of Dodge City, Kansas. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, there was so much myth making that surrounded Dodge City that for the longest time, people assumed that the mythical Dodge City and the actual Dodge City were the same. This was the wild West. But a homicide is a matter of record. Towns, even deeply dysfunctional towns, collect death certificates. They have newspapers that report on murders, court records that document criminal trials, graveyards where people are buried. And in the nineteen sixties, a historian named Robert Diykster decided to fact check the claims of Dodge City. Here's what he discovered. In eighteen seventy two, the year Dodge City was founded, the homicide count was eighteen, which in a town of twelve hundred people is nuts, but that was before the town had a police force. They promptly got themselves a county sheriff, and for the next couple of years there are no homicides at all. And for the eleven years that follow until the cattle trading period ends, Dodge City averages one point six homicides a year, which is still a lot for a small town, but not that bad for a place that's basically spring Break on steroids. The real Dodge City is nothing like the mythical Dodge City. The real Dodge City is proof that lawn order works. You bring in a lawman and the place goes back to normal, which is one hundred percent the opposite lesson of television's Dodge City, isn't it Gunsmoke says that you can be blessed with a diligent, wise rangye, indefatigable, courageous us marshal, the legendary Matt Dillon, and he will invariably catch the bad guy and gun him down on the street. But at the very thing that police are supposed to do and in fact do in the real world, that is, stop murders from happening. Matt Dillon is helpless. He's the US Marshal for Dodge City for twenty seasons, and the bodies just keep piling up. He's the head of law enforcement in a town with an implied homicide rate eighty times higher than Saint Louis, Missouri, the murder capital of the Western world. He's terrible at his job. He should have been run out of town, and yet he is not, because in the bizarre fantasy being peddled by gun Smoke, there are so many bad guys and so many guns, and so many shootouts and bars that every man must take responsibility for protecting himself. If you have a quiet drink at the Long Branch saloon and a stranger comes in with an itchy finger, you have to be prepared to defend yourself. It's up to you, because there's no guarantee that Matt Dillon will rush in in time to help you. Now do I worry that Lesson reverberated with Little Sammy Alito watching Gun Smoke on his parents black and White RCA back in Hamilton Downship, New Jersey. Yes, I do. By the way, it wasn't just Aledo. Right after Alito goes off on his strange rant about the perils of the A train, Guess who chimes in justice Brett Cavanaugh. Of course he does. Brett Cavanaugh, child of the Washington DC suburbs, whose only experience of mass transit was being carpooled to private school in the back of his mother's Dodge Mini van.

What if you're a runner, you say, I run a lot, and as you correctly pointed out earlier, there are a lot of serious violent crimes on running.

What if you're a runner, you say, I run a lot, and as you correctly pointed out earlier, there are a lot of serious violent crimes on running.

Pass real problem.

Pass real problem.

It's a real problem, just as Kavanaugh now wonders if the Runners of New York would be well served stropping on a glock in order to defend themselves against the murderous grievances of their fellow joggers as they charge their way around the Central Park Reservoir. If Barbara Underwood was taken aback by sam Aldo, then Kavanagh, I mean, she's like, what is happening? She tries to explain. Have you thought about what would happen if New York issued a handgun to anyone who wanted one.

It's a real problem, just as Kavanaugh now wonders if the Runners of New York would be well served stropping on a glock in order to defend themselves against the murderous grievances of their fellow joggers as they charge their way around the Central Park Reservoir. If Barbara Underwood was taken aback by sam Aldo, then Kavanagh, I mean, she's like, what is happening? She tries to explain. Have you thought about what would happen if New York issued a handgun to anyone who wanted one.

The problem with the shall Issho resumes is that they multiply the number of firearms that are being carried in very densely populated places, and there is a much higher risk. Without assuming any ill intent on the part of the carriers of weapons, they greatly proliferate the likelihood that mistakes will be made, fights will break out.

The problem with the shall Issho resumes is that they multiply the number of firearms that are being carried in very densely populated places, and there is a much higher risk. Without assuming any ill intent on the part of the carriers of weapons, they greatly proliferate the likelihood that mistakes will be made, fights will break out.

Barbara Underwood dearly does not want to find herself in the middle of a gun battle when she walks her dog around the reservoir on a Sunday morning. But she's not up against a rational argument here. She's up against a fantasy, a fantasy shared by a whole group of middle aged men on the Supreme Court, the fantasies of little boys who once spent too many hours in front of the television. The heyday of Dodge City, the real Dodge City overlaps with the invention of one of the most important firearms of that era, maybe one of the top five most important weapons ever, the six shooter, patented by Samuel Colt, perfected by mister Smith and mister Wesson.

Barbara Underwood dearly does not want to find herself in the middle of a gun battle when she walks her dog around the reservoir on a Sunday morning. But she's not up against a rational argument here. She's up against a fantasy, a fantasy shared by a whole group of middle aged men on the Supreme Court, the fantasies of little boys who once spent too many hours in front of the television. The heyday of Dodge City, the real Dodge City overlaps with the invention of one of the most important firearms of that era, maybe one of the top five most important weapons ever, the six shooter, patented by Samuel Colt, perfected by mister Smith and mister Wesson.

So revolvers were fairly easy to get by about eighteen fifty but by eighteen seven eighteen eighty, you could order them for just a few dollars through a catalog. It was incredible the number of revolvers that were in that were available and circulating in public as compared to decades past.

So revolvers were fairly easy to get by about eighteen fifty but by eighteen seven eighteen eighty, you could order them for just a few dollars through a catalog. It was incredible the number of revolvers that were in that were available and circulating in public as compared to decades past.

That's the historian Brennan reeves the pistols of the early nineteenth century were cumbersome, unreliable, inaccurate. People were more worried about bowie knives than they were about handguns. The arrival of the revolver changed all that. The inventionable weapon with a cylinder filled with bullets that rotates every time the trigger is pulled, solved every problem that plagued the nineteenth century handgun. So you have a proliferation of a gun that is a significant innovation. It's cheap, it's effective, it does all kinds of other Can you describe a little bit the kind of social and political response to the proliferation of the revolver.

That's the historian Brennan reeves the pistols of the early nineteenth century were cumbersome, unreliable, inaccurate. People were more worried about bowie knives than they were about handguns. The arrival of the revolver changed all that. The inventionable weapon with a cylinder filled with bullets that rotates every time the trigger is pulled, solved every problem that plagued the nineteenth century handgun. So you have a proliferation of a gun that is a significant innovation. It's cheap, it's effective, it does all kinds of other Can you describe a little bit the kind of social and political response to the proliferation of the revolver.

Well, a major response from American people was to talk about how sad it was that people were being shot all the time. You see a tremendous outpouring of sadness and frustration that people are being lives are being lost, People's lives are being ruined, all as a result of someone resorting to using these really deadly weapons. So the social response was something that we're not altogether unfamiliar with, the primary media of the day talking about and lamenting the loss of life as a results of these weapons and saying that something should be done.

Well, a major response from American people was to talk about how sad it was that people were being shot all the time. You see a tremendous outpouring of sadness and frustration that people are being lives are being lost, People's lives are being ruined, all as a result of someone resorting to using these really deadly weapons. So the social response was something that we're not altogether unfamiliar with, the primary media of the day talking about and lamenting the loss of life as a results of these weapons and saying that something should be done.

Walk walk me through the various strategies that were tried in this era in response to the revolver Well.

Walk walk me through the various strategies that were tried in this era in response to the revolver Well.

The first strategy is what scholars are now calling public carry laws, and they started out by prohibiting, in statutory language, in clear black and white, you can't carry or conceal certain these certain weapons in public spaces, and there would be some sort of of a penalty.

The first strategy is what scholars are now calling public carry laws, and they started out by prohibiting, in statutory language, in clear black and white, you can't carry or conceal certain these certain weapons in public spaces, and there would be some sort of of a penalty.

There were laws prohibiting guns from certain sensitive places, taxes imposed to make guns more expensive. If we just used Texas as our example, So how many of those strategies are being deployed in Texas in the latter part of.

There were laws prohibiting guns from certain sensitive places, taxes imposed to make guns more expensive. If we just used Texas as our example, So how many of those strategies are being deployed in Texas in the latter part of.

The nineteenth century, I believe all of them, except for personal taxation and banning the sale of certain weapons. So in Texas there by nineteen hundred, in Texas there was a sensitive place's law that was very broad. It covered everything from polling places on election days to circuses, any public gathering was a disarmed space. There was also a public carry law that applied not only to concealed weapons, but to openly carried weapons as well, So you could not carry a booie knife or a pistol or various other concealable deadly weapons in public beyond the confines of your own property at all.

The nineteenth century, I believe all of them, except for personal taxation and banning the sale of certain weapons. So in Texas there by nineteen hundred, in Texas there was a sensitive place's law that was very broad. It covered everything from polling places on election days to circuses, any public gathering was a disarmed space. There was also a public carry law that applied not only to concealed weapons, but to openly carried weapons as well, So you could not carry a booie knife or a pistol or various other concealable deadly weapons in public beyond the confines of your own property at all.

By the turn of the twentieth century, there were also taxes on gun dealers and a law against selling arms to minors. So Texas gun laws in eighteen ninety are way more restricted than they are in twenty twenty three. Yes, and is Texas an outlier in those years? There are other kind of large states that have similar kind of positions on gun violence to that.

By the turn of the twentieth century, there were also taxes on gun dealers and a law against selling arms to minors. So Texas gun laws in eighteen ninety are way more restricted than they are in twenty twenty three. Yes, and is Texas an outlier in those years? There are other kind of large states that have similar kind of positions on gun violence to that.

I would not say Texas is an outlier. It was a very common approach.

I would not say Texas is an outlier. It was a very common approach.

Huge parts of the country were covered by gun control laws in the nineteenth century, laws that would seem unacceptable today. That's how much people were spooked by the rise of the revolver. There's even a sub specialty of American history devoted to digging up all the old gun laws that were on the books around this time. Patrick, can you do me a favorite? Can you pull up the list of cities that you know had discovered had gun control ordinances in the late nineteenth century, and just read me, read me twenty of the city names.

Huge parts of the country were covered by gun control laws in the nineteenth century, laws that would seem unacceptable today. That's how much people were spooked by the rise of the revolver. There's even a sub specialty of American history devoted to digging up all the old gun laws that were on the books around this time. Patrick, can you do me a favorite? Can you pull up the list of cities that you know had discovered had gun control ordinances in the late nineteenth century, and just read me, read me twenty of the city names.

I'll go to my appendix. I have these things all over the place.

I'll go to my appendix. I have these things all over the place.

This is Patrick Charles, one of the leading gun laws sleuths.

This is Patrick Charles, one of the leading gun laws sleuths.

All right, let's go. So, I think great examples are you know? So if we go to California, right, We've got Sacramento, We've got San Francisco, Santa Barbara, s Angeles, Amida. If you go to Kansas, these are cities that probably unless you're from Kansas, you don't even know Argentine, Concordian, Coffeeville. Then if you go beyond that, I mean we've got places such as and Brooklyn was not always part of New York City. You've got Brooklyn, You've got Nashville, Tennessee, West Missouri, Wheeling, West Virgin Paul, Minnesotaly in Wisconsin's in Illinois. There's also Chicago. Oh had it?

All right, let's go. So, I think great examples are you know? So if we go to California, right, We've got Sacramento, We've got San Francisco, Santa Barbara, s Angeles, Amida. If you go to Kansas, these are cities that probably unless you're from Kansas, you don't even know Argentine, Concordian, Coffeeville. Then if you go beyond that, I mean we've got places such as and Brooklyn was not always part of New York City. You've got Brooklyn, You've got Nashville, Tennessee, West Missouri, Wheeling, West Virgin Paul, Minnesotaly in Wisconsin's in Illinois. There's also Chicago. Oh had it?

So wait? So sut there guess who else had a gun law in place? Dodge City, Kansas. After that first murderous season in eighteen seventy two, the town cracked down At the bridge over the Arkansas River, which every cowboy crossed on his way into Dodge City, there was a big sign the carrying of firearms strictly prohibited. The law said that you had to check your gun at the sheriff's office or town hall or some other designated building. One spot was the local brick factory. The owner said that at one point he had hundreds of revolvers stacked up in his storeroom. You got a chit like a coach checked token, which you turned in for your gun when you left town. In Dodge City, the penalty for breaking that law was one hundred dollars or three months in jail, or both. When the murder rate ticked back up to one or two a year, the local paper got all upset and accused the police of going easy on gun owners, like the time when the marshal took a gun off a drunken trouble maker in a bar and foolishly gave the gun to the man's boss, who promptly gave it back to his employee, who then killed somebody. Not smart. So gun Smoke comes along in the mid nineteen fifties, and in its first season with half the country's television audience watching it introduces us to their version of Dodge City, the world's most dangerous place, and in those first few episodes, it has to deal with the question of what Matt Dillon, the symbol of law and authority, should do about this extraordinary violence. He can't turn a blind eye to it, Kenny, Oh, No, he has to take action. They decide to have him try what his real life counterparts tried, gun control. So Matt Dillon takes away Andy's gun, and Andy is transformed. Our blonde haired gunman gets a job of the local stables. The owner loves him, says, I wish he was my son. We see Andy at the local saloon, having a single chased beer, chatting politely with the beautiful proprietress. A bully challenges him to a fistfight. Andy drops him with a punch. Matt Dillon looks on admiringly because he has liberated Andy from his gun. Dylan has been given moral purpose, Andy has been given redemption. Both men see a way forward out of the unrelenting bleakness that is Dodge City.

So wait? So sut there guess who else had a gun law in place? Dodge City, Kansas. After that first murderous season in eighteen seventy two, the town cracked down At the bridge over the Arkansas River, which every cowboy crossed on his way into Dodge City, there was a big sign the carrying of firearms strictly prohibited. The law said that you had to check your gun at the sheriff's office or town hall or some other designated building. One spot was the local brick factory. The owner said that at one point he had hundreds of revolvers stacked up in his storeroom. You got a chit like a coach checked token, which you turned in for your gun when you left town. In Dodge City, the penalty for breaking that law was one hundred dollars or three months in jail, or both. When the murder rate ticked back up to one or two a year, the local paper got all upset and accused the police of going easy on gun owners, like the time when the marshal took a gun off a drunken trouble maker in a bar and foolishly gave the gun to the man's boss, who promptly gave it back to his employee, who then killed somebody. Not smart. So gun Smoke comes along in the mid nineteen fifties, and in its first season with half the country's television audience watching it introduces us to their version of Dodge City, the world's most dangerous place, and in those first few episodes, it has to deal with the question of what Matt Dillon, the symbol of law and authority, should do about this extraordinary violence. He can't turn a blind eye to it, Kenny, Oh, No, he has to take action. They decide to have him try what his real life counterparts tried, gun control. So Matt Dillon takes away Andy's gun, and Andy is transformed. Our blonde haired gunman gets a job of the local stables. The owner loves him, says, I wish he was my son. We see Andy at the local saloon, having a single chased beer, chatting politely with the beautiful proprietress. A bully challenges him to a fistfight. Andy drops him with a punch. Matt Dillon looks on admiringly because he has liberated Andy from his gun. Dylan has been given moral purpose, Andy has been given redemption. Both men see a way forward out of the unrelenting bleakness that is Dodge City.

You know something, Marshall, boy, he was right about me not wearing a gun.

You know something, Marshall, boy, he was right about me not wearing a gun.

I'm glad I took it off.

I'm glad I took it off.

You was right about me not wearing a gun. But then commercial break and when we come back, a stranger shows up in Dodge City asking after Andy. Says, Andy's in outlaw. Says Andy used to be part of the Fisher gang down in Laramie, Wyoming. There's a bounty on his head one thousand dollars to get or alive. The stranger finds Andy in the stables, says you're coming with me. Andy says no way. Andy goes for his gun, but he's got no gun. Matt Dylon took it. He grabs it air and the bounty hunter shoots him in the chest. Matt Dylan rushes in too late. He goes to the stricken Andy lying on the ground.

You was right about me not wearing a gun. But then commercial break and when we come back, a stranger shows up in Dodge City asking after Andy. Says, Andy's in outlaw. Says Andy used to be part of the Fisher gang down in Laramie, Wyoming. There's a bounty on his head one thousand dollars to get or alive. The stranger finds Andy in the stables, says you're coming with me. Andy says no way. Andy goes for his gun, but he's got no gun. Matt Dylon took it. He grabs it air and the bounty hunter shoots him in the chest. Matt Dylan rushes in too late. He goes to the stricken Andy lying on the ground.

I forgot I forgot about my gun. I went for remembered didn't work out so good, just because I've forgotten fad.

I forgot I forgot about my gun. I went for remembered didn't work out so good, just because I've forgotten fad.

He dies and the bounty hunter turns to Matt Dylan.

He dies and the bounty hunter turns to Matt Dylan.

They went for his gun.

They went for his gun.

I had a Killain.

I had a Killain.

Dylan is gazing, grief stricken into the endless prairie horizon.

Dylan is gazing, grief stricken into the endless prairie horizon.

Now you didn't kill him? What I killed him?

Now you didn't kill him? What I killed him?

And somewhere in the suburbs of Hamilton Township. Little Sammy Alito, already dreaming of one day wearing the long black robes of the High Court, learns a lesson he will never forget. Guns don't kill people. Gun controlled US, our revisionist history Gun series was produced by Jacob Smith, Bend Adaph Haffrey, Piara Powell, Tally, Emlyn and Leeman Gistoo. We were edited by Peter Clowney and Julia Barton. Fact checking by Arthur Gombert's and Cashel Williams. Original scoring by the Risquerra, mastering by FLONN Williams. Engineering by Nina Lawrence. I'm Malcolm Gladwell.

And somewhere in the suburbs of Hamilton Township. Little Sammy Alito, already dreaming of one day wearing the long black robes of the High Court, learns a lesson he will never forget. Guns don't kill people. Gun controlled US, our revisionist history Gun series was produced by Jacob Smith, Bend Adaph Haffrey, Piara Powell, Tally, Emlyn and Leeman Gistoo. We were edited by Peter Clowney and Julia Barton. Fact checking by Arthur Gombert's and Cashel Williams. Original scoring by the Risquerra, mastering by FLONN Williams. Engineering by Nina Lawrence. I'm Malcolm Gladwell.