To many people in
Indiana’s small towns and rural areas, the right to bear arms is as important to
citizens as any of our other rights protected by the Constitution and the Bill
of Rights.
That is why it came as
no surprise to most Hoosiers when our state was recently ranked second only to
New York for the number of people with permits to carry firearms per 1,000
people over the age of 18. For many, carrying a Colt Python or Smith & Wesson
Model Model 629 is as natural as carrying a cell phone.
No other town in Indiana
more personifies this attitude than the tiny hamlet of Coatesville (population
500), on the southwest outskirts of Hendricks County.
An Indianapolis Star
review of state gun permit data found that Coatesville was the gun-toting
capital of Indiana with 395 (73%) of its residents holding permits.
When I visited the town
to research this story, I was very surprised. I expected to see a town
reminiscent of the Old West, where a shootout could occur at anytime. What I
found was a sleepy town filled with nice people who say it is very rare for
violent crimes to occur at all.
Earl Mackins, the town
barber for over 30 years, says that guns deter crime. “Everybody around here
knows not to pick a fight or harass anyone—because if they do they are probably
going to get their ass shot off. The stakes are a lot higher here if you screw
with the wrong person.”
Even most of the women
in Coatesville are brought up shooting. Sandy Minton, owner of Sandy’s Feed
Store, said that her dad took her and her brothers out shooting on their farm on
a regular basis growing up. “It was something we all did. Nobody thinks
anything about it.”
As a matter of fact, the
last time anyone remembers getting shot was in 1974, when an outsider tried to
rob the now defunct Coatesville Community Bank. “I remember it like it was
yesterday,” said Mackins, “Some man from out of town tried to rob the bank.
Didn’t know what he was getting into. That son of a bitch left town with our
deposits alright—in a body bag with about 30 shots deposited in him! That was
the last time anyone came here looking for trouble.”
