From the Schenectady Gazette, December 31, 1923, comes this handy little fact about the driving and shooting inhabitants of Rensselaer County. 5,000 permits to carry revolvers had been issued throughout Rensselaer County. “Virtually all of these permits, it is said, were issued to persons who drive automobiles.”
I have no idea what to make of this information. The county’s population in 1920 was 113,000, so it’s only about 4% of the population . . . but a much larger percentage of the automobile driving population. Luckily, road rage in those days was aimed at the autos, not at anything else that might be in their way.