Gunfight at the O.K. Corral the law in their favor when it affected their gambling and saloon interests, which earned them further enmity with the Cowboy faction. To reduce crime in Tombstone, on April 19, 1881, the city council passed ordinance 9, requiring anyone carrying a bowie knife, dirk, pistol or rifle to deposit their weapons at a livery or saloon soon after entering town. The ordinance was the legal basis for City Marshal Virgil Earp's decision to confront the Cowboys on the day of the shootout. In the borderlands south of Tombstone there was only one passable route between Arizona and Mexico, a passage
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral that Ike and Tom had left their livery stable and entered town while armed, in violation of the city ordinance. Virgil Earp was told by several citizens that the McLaurys and the Clantons had gathered on Fremont Street. Virgil decided he had to disarm the Cowboys. His decision to take action may have been influenced by the Cowboy's repeated threats to the Earps, their proximity to Holliday's room in Fly's boarding house, and their location on the route the Earps usually took to their homes two blocks further west on Fremont Street. Several members of the citizen's vigilance committee offered