Gunsmoke and Saddle Leather: Firearms in the Nineteenth-Century American WestThe gun, like the axe and the plow, was an essential tool in the exploration and settlement of the trans Mississippi West. It provided food for the cooking pot as well as protection against two or four legged marauders. As the century progressed, firearms also provided various forms of recreation for both men and women, primarily target and competition shooting. Of course, the employment of the gun, whether for good or evil, depended upon the user.