Back in December of 2012, I busted out the ol’ snark shillelagh on Dennis Merrill and hit him pretty darn hard with it. He had raised a stink to a local TV station over the wild west shootout reenactments the Ft. Worth Stockyards put on for tourists, claiming that they were inappropriate. Keep in mind that this was only about a week after the Sandy Hook shootings. Well Mr. Merrill just ran across my post and I agreed to give him equal time to present his objection to the rootin’ tootin’ shootin’. Make the jump for his side of the story . . .
The reason that I object the Gunfight Reenactments in Fort Worth is that they, as I understand it, are ILLEGAL. A Fort Worth Police Dept. Desk Sergeant informed me that it is the Law in in Texas that Thou Shall Not Carry an Openly displayed Pistol on the Streets of Fort Worth. There is NO special Waiver available to Gunfight Re-enactors.
He then told me that those were not REAL Guns that the Gunfighters carry. I called the Reenactment Group and they assured me that the Pistols they used were 45 Cal. Revolvers shooting blanks. The Law makes no allowances for wax bullets.
As you are aware, a Gunfight Reenactment in South Dakota went horribly wrong and one of the Re-enactors, a convicted Felon gets to the Shootout and forgets to change to blanks. Sadly 3 Tourists were shot. I would like to see some changes made concerning these Shows. No. 1 would be that Police enforce the Laws currently on the Books across the Board.