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"It may be more useful to think of the term 'gunfighter' as describing a style of action appropriate to a certain kind of world-view rather than a specific social role in a particular historical frame. The 'cult of the gunfighter' is constituted by the use of a particular character and style of action to resolve a wide range of conflicts in a nearly limitless variety of settings. The outward form of the gunfighter style emphasizes artistic professionalism in the use of weapons, but what justifies and directs the professionalism is a particular state of mind, a 'gunfighter' undertstanding of 'how the world works,' That understanding is essentially 'hard-boiled': the world is a hostile place, human motives are rarely good, and outcomes depend not on right but on the proper deployment of might."
Richard Slotkin