Fittingly perhaps, we in La Plata County are blessed with our own handlebar-mustached, invective spitting, cowboy wannabe, anachronism-in-the-flesh: Duke Schirard. Shoot, who needs to enforce those pesky gun-control laws? I hate to mention it, but the famous shootout at the OK Corral was actually prompted by local law enforcement trying to enforce the town’s ordinance number 9: “It is hereby declared unlawful to carry in the hand or upon the person or otherwise any deadly weapon within the limits of said city of Tombstone, without first obtaining a permit in writing.”

Shoot (again), maybe we need Marshall Virgil Earp and his brother Wyatt to help make Durango more closely resemble the Old West. Shoot, such gun-control laws were in fact pretty common from Dodge City to Deadwood to Tombstone. Contrary to popular belief, it turns out that deaths by gunfire were pretty uncommon in those days. When common-sense gun-control laws – such as universal background checks – were passed last year, it was fascinating to see the discrepancy between the rhetoric of sheriffs, particularly those in rural parts of the state, and that of police chiefs. Police chiefs (Oh yeah, they don’t have to run for office) have been strikingly silent, while local sheriffs talk about which laws they will “constitutionally” enforce.

Voting for sheriff is an anachronism, but since that office is on the ballot, I’ll vote for the candidate who will enforce all the laws and represent all the people.

That candidate is Sean Smith.

Patrick Owens

Durango