Anyone who has read a Louis Lamour novel about life in the old West will know that guns and gunplay were an integral part of life on the plains, at least the American plains, in the last century.
Lamour is one of the most prolific and best-loved western writers. He writes of a time when men were men and wanted their women to “have sand;” one of the biggest compliments that could be paid to another, man or woman, was that that individual was one “to ride the river with.” Lamour’s creed is expressed well in these few lines from his novels Callagahan and The Key-Lock Man:
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- Half the trouble in the world was probably caused because right-thinking people kept their mouths shut instead of speaking up and saying what they believed.
- The way to survive was to watch your back trail and keep a gun handy.
- There’s only one way to fight: to win; and anybody who uses force without using it to the utmost is playing the fool.
- You bought your ticket, now take your ride.
Last week, in the Louis Lamour tradition, a farmer from southeastern Saskatchewan was found not guilty of assault with a deadly weapon.
Some men had been stealing gas from his farmyard.
He shot out a back tire on their car as they fled the scene, then held them at gunpoint until police arrived.
The case has attracted much attention, and the verdict has received a lot of sympathy in rural areas where stealing gas is not regarded as a lark.
It is hard not to be sympathetic. This farmer did what most like to believe they would do – instead of watching someone make off with something he had put his hard-earned dollars into, he did something. In the tradition of Lamour’s “old West” he held the thieves at gunpoint until the law arrived. He took a stand for the right.
Still, his actions, and the jury’s verdict, should send a clear message to would-be thieves: Steal from us and we will take action. We are not going to sit back, we are ready to defend our property.
In the perfect world, those would-be thieves would take note and stay away.
And yet, we do not live in a perfect world. The fear must be that they will come calling again, on this farmer or some other, but the next time instead of coming out of the night to steal gas and run away, they too may be armed, ready to defend themselves.
This is how situations escalate.
It is how people get hurt, and worse.
