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I knew I was in the West, the land of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, when I met a man dressed in black carrying a big gun on his hip.

I was in Tucson, Ariz., in February this year. My wife, Sally, and I were attending a wholesale jewelry and gem show. While visiting a used book shop on Fourth Avenue, browsing along the aisles, a man came in. He was in his 40s, about 5 foot 8 inches tall, casually clothed in black shirt and slacks.

When about 4 feet away, I saw the gun. I asked if he was a policeman or security officer.

He said, "No, I always carry a pistol."

"Is it a 45," I asked.

"No," he answered, "it's a 357." This was the same as Clint Eastwood carried in the movies.

He related that it often came in handy. Once he was confronted by a gang of young men with baseball bats. He pulled the gun and they rapidly withdrew. Just outside the bookstore a panhandler had approached him but when he saw the weapon he recoiled sharply.

"It's legal to carry a firearm in Arizona," he said.

He even had a permit to carry a concealed weapon but he preferred an open display. His dad had set an example for him. He was a long-time state and federal lawman.

Wow! I knew I was in the land of the frontier West. Tombstone is the place where Wyatt Earp and his brothers and Doc Holliday fought the Clanton gang at the OK Corral. Tombstone is only 11 hours from Tucson by stagecoach. I read in the Arizona Republic that same day that Doc Holliday is buried in Glendale, the site of a famous hot spring.

Wyatt Earp, in my opinion, is the most famous and successful gunman, lawman and gambler in the history of the West. He even came to Nome in the early 1900's during the Gold Rush where he owned and operated a saloon and gambling hall. Later in California he got into the oil leasing business. He lived a long life that certainly included much of the history of the West. He died in 1929 at the age of 80.

This Tucson experience gave a very different sense of place compared to Alaska. Up here it seems to me that carrying a pistol or rifle usually means that a person is going hunting. In Arizona, it means that you better be careful, and not offend, or make a bad move.

• Lifelong Alaskan Elton Engstrom is a retired fish buyer, lawyer and legislator (1964-70) who lives in Juneau.