History: American Old West, United States

To control violence, sometimes cowboys were segregated into brothel districts away from the main part of town. Cattle rustling was a serious offense sometimes punished by lynching. However, free-shooting brawls, also known as "hurrahing", were not as frequent as in the movies. In Wichita, handguns were outlawed within city limits and in many towns some form of gun control existed. Also unlike in the movies, marshals rarely shot outlaws, especially in the middle of Main Street in a showdown. Famed lawmen such as Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Wild Bill Hickok, and less remembered ones like Michael Meagher, Thomas James Smith, and Bill Tilghman actually averaged only one or two killings in a year.
• Code of the West
A new code of behavior was becoming acceptable in the West. People no longer had a duty to retreat when threatened. This was a departure from British common law that required citizens to have their back to the wall before they could protect themselves with deadly force. In 1876 an Ohio court held if attacked a citizen was not "obligated to fly". The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the legality of "no duty to retreat". The code of the West dictated that a man did not have to back away from a fight, needing to retreat no further than "the air at his back", and could pursue an adversary even if it resulted in death.
In reality, the main activity of law enforcement in cattle towns was knocking down drunks and hauling them away before they hurt themselves or others. They also disarmed cowboys who violated gun control edicts, tried to prevent dueling, and dealt with flagrant breaches of gambling and prostitution ordinances. When the cattle were not in town, Wyatt Earp and other lawmen might be heading up street repair projects or doing other civic chores, or tending to their own business interests.