Did you notice this little news article? What happened to those brutal times of yesteryear when the local Marshal didn’t allow the cowboys to take their guns to town? Now 150 years later any ne’er-do-well can drop into the Western Trails (or Long Branch if you are more familiar with the television) with a chip on his shoulder and a 9mm Glock on his hip scratching his back with an AR-15.
Those bad dreams I often had back in the ’50s are coming true: will I be forced to strap on my Buntline Special or should I just practice dancing at gunpoint?
This is from the Sun Herald and the title says it all:
Father and son die in shootout at Pearl River County gun shop
PICAYUNE — A father and son were killed in a shootout with another man and his son at a gun store Saturday in Pearl River County’s Henleyfield community.
Pearl River County deputies responding to the shooting on Mississippi 43 about 3:15 p.m. found the store owner and his son dead in the store, Chief Deputy Shane Tucker said.
The owner’s wife was working at the store when two customers, a man and his son, entered to pick up a firearm that had been repaired.
“There was some contention about a $25 fee,” Tucker said.
In an attempt to clear up the dispute, the woman called her husband, who later arrived with his son. An argument ensued between the owners and the customers.
“During this argument, we believe there might have been some pushing and shoving,” Tucker said. “One of the customers and one of the owners produced firearms. We don’t know who shot first.”
All four men were shot. The two customers were airlifted to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, Tucker said.
By Sunday morning, the son in hospital ICU was in stable condition, he said.
The wife of the owner was not wounded.
Investigators are trying to determine how the situation unfolded before any charges are filed, Sheriff David Allison said.
A Celebration of Reading 