Will Dabbs

Our vision of Old West gunplay was formed by Western movies rather than the Old West itself. The very term “Gunslinger” was an early-20th century concoction. Clay Allison, however, was the real deal.

What possible darkness could possess two young parents to abandon their 6-month-old daughter and sacrifice their lives to slaughter a building full of innocent people?

As a nation and as a people we owe those old guys a debt that can never be repaid. Sometimes it behooves us to just be still and ponder how awesome they all were.

On the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, forces representing the Establishment were arrayed against a motley mob of some 2,000 students, hippies, stoners, bikers, and sundry anti-war protestors.

On a particularly dark day in October of 1918, John Barkley singlehandedly stopped an aggressive German Infantry assault using a captured German machinegun and a knocked-out French tank. John Barkley personified American heroism and courage.

Since 1934 there have been two cases wherein the legal owner of a registered machinegun committed a crime with his weapon. Only one is well documented.

Back in 1940, unproven troops using unproven tactics shook the world’s foundations with radical operations like the seizure of the Waalhaven Airfield. Modern armed conflict would never be the same.

In a way, Benito Mussolini shaped both the beginning and end of WW2 in Europe. His heavy-handed governance inspired that of Adolf Hitler, while the frenetic nature of his demise drove Hitler to his ultimate doom.

Winston Churchill’s C96 pistol likely saved his life at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. Had it not been for Churchill’s indomitable force of personality England might have fallen during the darkest days of the Battle of Britain. Sometimes the fate of the world turns on the tiniest things.