Gun Law

by Ralph Cotton

When a corrupt lawman starts doling out dirty justice, it will take a good gunfighter to take him down in this Ralph Cotton western.

On the trail of four wanted men, Sherman Dahl, the hired gun known as the Teacher, finds his prey in the town of Kindred, New Mexico Territory. He kills all four in a saloon gunfight that leaves him wounded and in the care of soiled dove Cayes.

Marshal Emerson Kern was hired to keep the peace in Kindred, and he doesn’t want Dahl’s kind in his town. His “gun law” forbids folks from carrying firearms, but Kern’s edict is far from altruistic. No one is willing to go up against Kern and his “deputies”—the only armed men in town—from extorting every cent the townsfolk earn. No one except Sherman Dahl....

Genres: Westerns

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 5, 2011

Reviews

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly solid book about a bounty hunter, a town, a new ordinance, and a criminal plot. Throw in an old doctor, a soiled dove with a heart of gold, a crusading journalist, and some mealy mouthed townsfolk and you get a pretty boilerplate western, but it goes in different places than usual and in the end was fairly satisfying.

[Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gun Law had the makings of a good story, but it was such a blatant allegory to the current political fights over gun control that it was like being hit in the head with a rifle butt over and over again. I like westerns. I like guns. I like westerns full of guns. But I could have done without the politics.

[Jay Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is just average reading. A town bars guns and the criminals take advantage of the citizens. It is a "why we have guns" book. It simply says government cannot be trusted and you need to trust yourself. Naturally the gunman who teaches this to the citizens is called "the Teacher." It has plenty of action but it is not one of Cotton's better efforts.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than classic: smiles, twists, gunsmoke, poison, brutality, rape, good men die and bad and regular in between. Good gunfighter meets better than a dove, idiots, robbers, in a town trying to stop guns. Makes me proud to be an American -- oops I'm not, Canadians have gun control, sort of.

[Lowell Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent one to read, great story.

[Will Welton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Arizona Rangers ride again into danger and after a lot of trouble they came out on top taking the gang of thieves down.

[Jeff]

Pretty Dang Good

[Martha Peebles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, really enjoyed the read. Has a lot of action. Look forward to another book by, Ralph Cotton.