logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2023
43m 19s

Guns Part 2: Getting out of Dodge

Pushkin Industries
About this episode

The longest running television series of the 20th century was Gunsmoke, a western set in the notorious Dodge City, Kansas. Malcolm sweeps away mountains of legal scholarship to make a bold claim: The simplest explanation for the Supreme’s Court’s puzzling run of gun rights decisions may be that the justices watched too much Gunsmoke when they were growing up. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Sep 2023
Guns Part 3: A Shooting Lesson
Malcolm goes to a shooting range in the woods of North Carolina to get a tutorial on the AR-15. It’s scary. It’s ugly. It’s at the center of the gun control debate. But what exactly makes it worse than other guns? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
39m 50s
Sep 2023
Guns Part 4: Moral Hazard
Robert Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1968, ending his presidential run. Had he been shot today, would he have lived? A what-if story about homicides and medical care and the moral consequences of a world where trauma surgeons have gotten really, really good at wha ... Show More
43m 8s
Sep 2023
Guns Part 5: The Footnote
At the end of a forgotten study of convicted murderers, the author left a devastating footnote.  We travel to an old plantation house outside Montgomery Alabama to hear his story — and what it tells us about American gun violence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio ... Show More
38m 7s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
Cautionary Tales Presents: Getting out of Dodge from Revisionist History
The longest running television series of the 20th century was Gunsmoke, a western set in the notorious Dodge City, Kansas. Malcolm sweeps away mountains of legal scholarship to make a bold claim: The simplest explanation for the Supreme’s Court’s puzzling run of gun rights decisi ... Show More
44m 39s
Jun 2020
Gunsmoke 52-04-26 (001) Billy the Kid
The Legacy of "Gunsmoke": Celebrating the First EpisodeOn April 26, 1952, a new kind of Western premiered on the CBS radio network. "Gunsmoke" was not your typical tale of cowboys and outlaws; it was billed as the first adult Western, aimed at a mature audience with complex chara ... Show More
29m 4s
Sep 2020
Gunsmoke 61-06-18 (480) Letter of the Law
Exploring the Legacy of "Gunsmoke": The "Letter of the Law" Episode"Gunsmoke" remains one of the most iconic Western radio series, captivating audiences with its tales of the American frontier. The episode titled "Letter of the Law," which first aired on June 18, 1961, stands as ... Show More
23m 46s
May 2024
CLASSIC: The Wild West Was Actually Pretty Chill
If you're like most people, the phrase "Wild West" conjures images of brutal gunfights in dusty, tumbleweed-ridden streets, visions of criminals slinking into the shadows of dimly-lit saloons and the vast stretch of lawless, unforgiving frontier. But how much of that image is act ... Show More
33m 39s
Nov 2025
The Ridiculous History of Dog Food
<p>Here on Ridiculous History, we are avowedly pro-dog. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive into a strange evolution of slave, to companion, to family member, tracing the evolution of dog food as it blossoms into a multi-billion dollar marketing phenomenon (and one heck of ... Show More
36m 9s
Jul 2025
Ruby Ridge Standoff | Northern Exposure | 2
Randy Weaver is arrested on gun-related charges, but a mix-up over the trial date deepens the Weaver family’s extreme beliefs and sets the scene for a disastrous confrontation with law enforcementBe the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and m ... Show More
34m 10s
Nov 2023
The Wild West
The TFTV team looks into more cases of missing Indigenous people in Humboldt County and hears recurring themes… substance abuse, mental health and lawlessness. Is Humboldt County “The Wild West”? Explore more at https://upandvanished.com/Subscribe to Tenderfoot+ for ad-free liste ... Show More
36m 2s
Feb 2018
Radiolab Presents: More Perfect - The Gun Show
<p>The shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018, reignited an increasingly familiar debate about guns in this country. Today, we’re re-releasing a <em>More Perfect </em>episode that aired just after the Las Vegas shooting last year that attempts to make sense of our cou ... Show More
1h 9m
Jan 2023
“The NOT So Wild, Wild West”
On this episode of Our American Stories, As part of our rule of law series, P.J. Hill, rancher and co-author of “The Not So Wild, Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier,” explains the misunderstanding behind the American West. Find his book here (https://www.amazon.com/Not-So ... Show More
10m 49s
Aug 2025
The Code They Killed For — Honor, Manhood, and the American Gunfighter
When you picture a gunfighter, you probably think of a Hollywood cowboy — spurs jangling, six-shooter on his hip, squaring off at high noon in a dusty frontier town. But gunfighters weren’t just products of Hollywood. They were real men who lived and died by a code: one rooted in ... Show More
51m 21s