# Tombstone and the Second Amemdment **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tombstone-and-the-second-amemdment/172502 "2003-05-01T23:23:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jodocus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f04885/32.png) [@Jodocus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodocus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tombstone-and-the-second-amemdment/172502/1 "2003-05-01T23:23:58Z")
Watching the movie Tombstone the other day I noticed they forbade guns in the city unless you were a law enforcement officer. What about the second amendment? Was this constitutional? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tombstone-and-the-second-amemdment/172502/2 "2003-05-01T23:38:33Z")
Have you told Charlton Heston about this? I’m sure that anyone who wished to try to seek relief in the Federal courts (and Arizona was a territory at the time) could have tried, but people weren’t in the habit of doing such things back in the late 19th Century. ---
**Author:** ![stoyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@stoyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoyel)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tombstone-and-the-second-amemdment/172502/3 "2003-05-01T23:50:14Z")
Many laws are not constitutional. That doesn’t mean they magically go away, or even that they can be successfully contested in courts. It’s not right, but it doesn’t look like it’s fixin’ to change anytime soon, either. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tombstone-and-the-second-amemdment/172502/4 "2003-05-02T01:35:12Z")
Curiously Wyatt Earp’s no-carry law was in effect for many years. It was only struck down less than ten years ago IIRC as being contrary7 to the **state** constitution which forbids any political subdivitions from restricting gun rights. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tombstone-and-the-second-amemdment/172502/5 "2003-05-02T02:54:27Z")
There are laws prohibiting or restricting gun use (for example, the Sullivan law in NYC). Courts have upheld them in the past (as the NRA well knows – if they truly believed there was an absolute right to own guns, they’d allow a law to pass and get the Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional. But they know that the court won’t rule that way.) ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tombstone-and-the-second-amemdment/172502/6 "2003-05-02T03:15:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\*There are laws prohibiting or restricting gun use (for example, the Sullivan law in NYC). Courts have upheld them in the past (as the NRA well knows – if they truly believed there was an absolute right to own guns, they’d allow a law to pass and get the Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional. But they know that the court won’t rule that way.) \*\* The Supreme court seems relunctlent to even address any gun law on 2nd Amendment grounds at all. ---
**Author:** ![TBone2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@TBone2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBone2)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tombstone-and-the-second-amemdment/172502/7 "2003-05-02T03:49:50Z")
Come on, kids, are we _trying_ to get kicked out of class here? **stoyel** hit the nail pretty squarely – there have been a great many laws passed that are _prima facie_ unconstitutional. Some have to do with gun ownership, but most don’t. Some have been challenged, but I’d say that most haven’t. **RealityChuck** , you’re showing your ass, son. You know better. **HPL** , learn two things: (1) NO POLITICS in GQ, even when **Chuck** is showing his ass, and (2) spelling counts. Really. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the word ‘reluctant’ brutalized to quite that degree… As to the OP, _Tombstone_ is truly a kick-ass flick, but not exactly pure history on videotape. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tombstone-and-the-second-amemdment/172502/8 "2003-05-02T04:12:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jodocus \* > \*\*What about the second amendment? Was this constitutional? \*\* At the time of the shootout in Tombstone, _none_ of the guarantees against federal action in the Bill of Rights had been “incorporated” so as to apply against state and local governments. The Second Amendment still has not been so incorporated today, which is why many cities still have gun bans or restrictions.