He was a small town dude, with no real crime to deal with. There were a couple episodes where he was going after bad guys and armed up. He always grabbed a rifle in those, though.
I recall one episode that he addressed the issue. He said that everybody knew each other and there was no need to carry. Barney insisted on carrying, so he and Andy negotiated from six, down to one bullet. The deal was, Barney could only use his bullet in an absolute emergency.
When a man carries a gun all the time, the respect he thinks he's getting might really be fear. So I don't carry a gun because I don't want the people of Mayberry to fear a gun. I'd rather they respect me.
I remember one episode where Aunt Bea said that Andy didn't carry a gun because it made him walk lopsided. lol.
That is what I remember... the belt, holster, & gun, in his desk drawer...I wondered that myself until I watched an episode when andy brought in 3 moonshiners that resisted arrest ,If he can whoop 3 country boys then drag them to jail ....andys bad enough without a gun,but he would load up when he needed to. He always seemed to keep a pistol in his desk & on top of the china cabinet at home
Yep, everyone knew each other. Back in the Good-ole days if you did something bad in school, you got a spanking at school, when your mother found out, later on that night when dad got home.
Q: How many people here know their neighbors these days?
How many people (unless you're in a really small town) here really know their neighbors a few houses in each direction?
.
I seen him arm up with a shotgun a few times...
No handgun
Yeah, that lady was hot too, way hotter than Helen Crump.He was pretty much the top shot gun guy in town until that smarty pants girl ringer came in and put it on him at the skeet range. He dumped her pretty quick and went back to the school teacher.
Nearly the same here, Jack. If we don't see a neighbor out and about for a couple days, someone is knocking on their door to check on them. We also watch out for the school-age children in the neighborhood and if a child is doing something wrong, the parent(s) get informed. And yep, I've had a parent inform to me on my son's activities. I encourage it!I know by name the ones on each side and their phone number and we speak regularly. Same for two neighbors with in a half mile to the south and one to the north east. I know visually most of the rest with in a mile and the vehicles they drive and a one or two sentence sumation of their circumstance and demeanor.
Criminal conduct in the area and information as is available, is probably dissemenated to the neighbors with a low probability of being involved and a high probability of being the next victim, is probably in every one's hands with in a day of it's occurance.
It may not be common knowledge, but Andy Griffith was and continues to be extremely anti-gun rights for the individual. He may think it's okay for you to have your grandpa's side by side to hunt birds and rabbits, but he'd prefer that you not be allowed to own a handgun.
There's no documentation (of which I am aware), but I'd bet cash folding money that the real reason the character Andy Taylor didn't carry a gun regularly is because Andy Griffith was against it.