A peculiar American disease has been isolated by medical scientists. The disease was first described in 1960 by Dr. J. V. Brown in the Western Journal of Surgery. An editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association then drew wide medical attention to it. Commercial houses are now marketing products designed to cope with it. Statistics on incidence and morbidity are scanty, and the name of the disease is hazy. Some doctors call it “the fast draw syndrome”; others, “the Dodge City syndrome.” But whatever the name, it is with us.

It is most prevalent, of course, among the numerous special gun clubs that have sprouted across the land in recent years. Members, taking a leaf out of days of yore and some scripts of today, draw guns from their holsters, quick as lightning, and fire away. Unlike their legendary heroes, they don’t shoot at one another but aim at balloons. Sometimes, though, they miss the balloon and hit themselves in the right foot.

Dr. Brown observed sixteen cases of the syndrome before writing his article, “Gunshot Wounds of Lower Extremity: Fast Draw Syndrome.” “The typical case of the fast draw syndrome,” Dr. Brown wrote, “is a young man in his late teens or early twenties who presents with a small caliber gunshot wound of the lower extremity, accidentally self-inflicted, while practicing a ‘fast draw.”’ Brown explained that the patient is “too slow on the draw and too fast with his trigger finger.” As a result, he pulls the trigger before the gun is out of the holster and while it is still pointed at his right foot.

In most cases under Dr. Brown’s observation, the wounds were made by bullets from small caliber guns. But Dr. Brown reported that one patient, drawing with a .45 caliber gun, fired an 11.46 mm. diameter bullet that tore through the lateral aspect of the right popliteal fossa. The patient was then confined to a hospital for 277 days.

The American Medical Association, in its editorial on the problem, puts the blame, at least indirectly, on Owen Wister and his 1902 novel, The Virginian. In the climactic chapter, the AMA Journal says, the hero and villain face each other on the deserted street of a small Western town. Suddenly the villain pulls out his gun, but the hero, quicker on the draw, fires first and shoots the villain dead. Actually the AMA editor’s memory of the book has been dimmed somewhat by time and television. In the penultimate chapter, “With Malice Aforethought,” the Virginian does face the badman Trampas in a gun duel, but he lets Trampas fire first: “A wind seemed to blow his sleeve off his arm, and he replied to it, and saw Trampas pitch forward.” Trampas has been killed by two quick shots. “Both of mine hit,” says the Virginian. “His must have gone mighty close to my arm.” A friend who watched the duel cries, “You were that cool! That quick!” “I’ll see you boys again,’’ the Virginian says, heavily, and he walks away.

The AMA does not mean to imply that every victim of the Dodge City syndrome has read Owen Wister. Powerful ideas have a way of crashing through book covers. Not every Marxist has read Marx. Nor has every Darwinist read Darwin. And so no Wisterner need read Wister. The ideas come through nicely in the mass media.

Dr. Brown, who first noticed the syndrome in California, also noticed the growth of fast-draw clubs there and the export of these clubs to other states. The most skilled members now assemble each year for the Big Bear Leather Slap at Big Bear Lake, Calif. At the Leather Slap, two men stand, pistols in their hip holsters, 21 feet away from a pair of small balloons. The starter blows his whistle. The men draw and fire away. The first to break a balloon wins the round. Eldon Carl, a twenty-nine-year-old deputy sheriff from San Diego, took the Leather Slap this year, and that makes him the national champion - America’s fastest draw.

Carl, who also won the championship in 1960 and 1961, explains that he began his quick-draw practice with blanks, then used wax bullets, and finally became skilled enough to fire with live ammunition. “If you pull the trigger too soon, you could blow your leg off with live ammunition,” Carl said. “With blanks or wax you only burn the holster or bruise yourself.” Carl said his average time for a quick draw was 16/100ths of a second. “This is much too fast for the normal eye to follow . . . and much too fast for a television gun-slinger,” he said.

It is not too difficult for quick-draw artists to obtain the kind of belt and holster they need. The George Lawrence Co., of Portland, Ore., for example, has an extensive Lawrence Gun-Slinger Line. The Lawrence catalogue describes the belts and holsters as “authentic reproductions of ‘Old West’ masterpieces that revive the experience, pleasure and art of quick-draw shooting.” For $34.65, Lawrence sells its oiled leather No. 77 Gun-Slinger belt and holster in a basket weave. The catalogue explains that the No. 77 allows the holster to lie “low on hip, pitching gun butt forward for firm, easy grip and fast draw.”

No. 77 evidently is a favorite among quick draws. Lawrence blurbs this fan letter from a satisfied customer, A. H. James of Waynesville, N.C.: “This is in regards to the 77 quick draw belt and holster that I am using now for fast draw. I have been using this for a number of years and although it is now too small, I can still draw in 12/100ths of a second. I have tried just about all the name-brand, quick-draw outfits and I find that yours holds together and takes the punishment better than the others. I guess that I draw my S. A. Colt 500 times a week and that really puts wear on the leather and the Colt. With my new No. 77 rig I believe I can draw in 10/100ths of a second, and that is my aim. Thanks a million for making the best.” These quick-draw times mean that James, if he decides to make the trip to California for next year’s Big Bear Leather Slap, could be our next national champion.

Some commercial manufacturers have made an attempt to market products that may be useful in preventing the Dodge City syndrome. Weapons, Inc. of Culver City, Calif., for example, sells a new wax load kit “FOR FAST DRAW PRACTICE. Kit of 50 primer .38 S&W Cal Brass cartridges, loading wax and instructions. Complete . . . $2.45.” And Edward H. Bohlin of Hollywood, Calif. (Saddlemakers - Silversmiths), sells a whole line of superfast Gun-Slingers designed to do away with holes in the right foot. The catalogue explains:

“This type of holster was used in the Old West and was carried on the belt in such a manner that the handle of the gun was above the top edge of the belt and away from the sides of the wearer so it would not interfere with the drawing. Some of the “old-timers” cut a slot in the lower edge of the belt to bring the holster lower on the thigh to facilitate the drawing. The holster is so constructed that the gun handle and hammer have ample clearance from the side of the belt, thus the thumb on the hammer, and the fingers gripping the handle do not touch the belt. We found that sometimes holsters are so made that while cocking the hammer the thumb inadvertently catches on the long shank, letting the hammer drop before the gun is out of the holster. Also, sometimes, the fingers around the handle will catch and will cause the shooter to accidentally drop the gun back in the holster. These obstacles for fast drawing have been eliminated in this new holster.”

As an added safety feature Bohlin sends each customer a brochure describing many technical points that a new gun-slinger needs to know about his Gun-Slinger holster before shooting at balloons.

Despite these attempts to make the quick draw safe, it is doubtful that the Dodge City syndrome can be eliminated entirely. After all, 16/100ths of a second is a very short time in which to both fire a gun and pull it away from your right foot. Ugly wounds in the lower extremities will continue to scratch the records of medical science. But this, after all, is a small price to pay for retention of an art that is not only constitutional but distinctly American, like apple pie.

Stanley Meisler is a Washington newsman.