ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994                   TAG: 9402240234
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: TOMBSTONE, ARIZ.                                LENGTH: Short

IT'S LEGAL AGAIN TO CARRY GUNS IN OK CORRAL TOWN

It's legal once again to strap a six-gun to your hip and stride down the wooden sidewalks of this old Wild West town where Wyatt Earp shot it out at the OK Corral.

The City Council in "the town too tough to die" has settled a lawsuit backed by the National Rifle Association and repealed its ban on carrying guns in public.

The ordinance was adopted in 1977 for fear that the mock gunfights staged regularly to entertain tourists could lead to real bloodshed. Folks were worried that someone packing iron could be spooked into drawing when the actors start firing blanks, Mayor Alex Gradillas explained Tuesday.

"Now everybody's kind of leery, because anybody can be carrying loaded guns if they wish," Gradillas said.

The council's unanimous vote Monday to repeal the gun ban brings the town's law in line with the rest of Arizona, which allows anyone to carry a gun anywhere in public as long as it's carried openly.

- Associated Press 


 by CNB