“Men don’t wear pistols in Canada!”

[u/Borealbound]

The photographic, archaeological & written evidence seems to suggest otherwise.

Don‘t even make me delve into the first legislation against firearms ownership which dominion of Canada implemented and where those laws applied and who they were used against.

[u/patrix299]

I think that Sam Steele meant that as a legal distinction with regard to street violence and wild west vigilante justice rather than a jab at the carrying of pistols for personal protection.

[u/Borealbound → u/patrix299]

If you have read Pierre Burton’s Klondike, there was a legitimate concern about the Soapy Smith gang which operated in Skagway, the funny thing is they seemed more concerned about “illegal gambling equipment” because Smith and his crew had developed many unique ways of completely separating prospectors from their money. The Canadian authorities even set Maxim machine guns up on one or two of the passes(I believe the Chilkoot pass, not sure about White Pass) out of fear of Smith’s gang. Soapy was eventually killed in a shootout on the pier at Skagway.