Most of the time when I put a newspaper up here, it's to mark some big or at least interesting century old event. Every now and then, however it's to comment on something and how it was perceived, which by extension comments on how we perceive things now.
I see around here fairly frequently stickers that say "Welcome to Wyoming--Consider everyone armed". It's an amusing joke based on the fact that firearms are really common here. That's been the case as long as I can personally recall, but it also refers to the fact that over the past two decades there's been a real boom in the concealed carry movement. I've taken a look at that and its history in this old post here:
Now, by mentioning this here, I don't mean to suggest that I'm opposed to these state laws allowing for concealed carry. I'm not. But I do want to point out how carrying hasn't always been perceived the way it is now.
In 2020 we can take it for granted that the press is universally liberal, and indeed "progressive", unless we specifically know otherwise about a particular outlet. In 1920, however, its a little more difficult to tell. Papers were Democratic or Republican and generally weren't shy about noting it, but they were also pretty slavish followers of social trends, unless they were absolutely bucking them. All of which makes the headline about Gerald Stack engaging in an act of "Slander" against Wyoming men interesting.
Under the same circumstances today, there aren't very many Wyoming men who would regard his comment as slanderous. Some would find it childish and inaccurate, and some on the political fringes would hold it up as a positive or negative example. But quite a few people would take some secret pride in the thought that everyone in the state was packing.
In 1920, however, Wyoming was seeking to overcome its frontier image even while preserving it. The Cheyenne newspaper knew that his comment wasn't true and pointed it out. Beyond that, they pointed it out as being slanderous. An insult, as it was, to the men of Wyoming.
Apparently it wasn't an insult to women, presumably because women weren't thought to be packing.
In actuality, quite a few people at the time, including quite a few people were packing and the ownership of pocket pistols was common. Chicago, for its part, didn't have a gun control law addressing handguns until 1981, much later than most people would suppose, and it hasn't been a huge success by any measure. Having said that, Illinois restricted the carrying of concealed handguns in 1949, following World War Two, at which time, contrary to our general myth, there was widespread national support for banning handguns. New York City, in contrast, passed a firearms licensing act for concealable handguns in 1911, making the carrying of them without a license a felony.
Again, this isn't an argument for anything. It's just an interesting look at how we often inaccurately imagine what the past was like.
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