Tourists often go to Tombstone looking to walk the same streets once patrolled by Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday. But now, with enforcement of the town solicitation ordinance in full effect, modern-day Earps and Hollidays can no longer do the same.

The Tombstone solicitation ordinance was passed in 2007 and forbids local businesses from advertising more than 15 feet away from their location. The ordinance was originally conceived as a way to keep competing businesses in town from hawking their wares too aggressively to tourists.

“Preacher” Tom Clark, a local, has another way of explaining it.

“It’s controlling stupidity,” he said. “ Since they started enforcing it, there’s no stupidity on the streets and tourists are having more fun.”

Tom said that, before the ordinance was enforced, tourists were regularly harassed as they walked through town.

“All I had to say was ‘good morning’ and I’d get my head bitten off,” he recalled.

To him, enforcing the ordinance keeps tourists from having to “run the gauntlet” as they walk up and down the streets.

“It ain’t rocket science, for god’s sake,” he added.

Anita Skinner, who runs the front desk at the Tombstone Visitor Center, said she used to hear complaints about the environment on the street, namely from people who felt they were being “accosted.”

“Things have toned down quite a bit since then,” she said.

Rex Miller, who works at the Good Enough Mine Tours, said he hasn’t heard a direct statement from the marshal on why the ordinance is only now being enforced, but he thinks it may be a temporary maneuver.

“This whole thing will blow over after people calm down a bit,” he said.

Miller said that much of the ordinance appeared to be targeting competing businesses in town, namely the hawkers for the various gun shows, who got too aggressive in their marketing strategies.

“Everyone’s fighting for a dollar,” he said.

Marshal Billy Cloud could not be reached for comment after repeated requests from the Epitaph.

David Menges, the head of the gunfight at the Crystal Palace, said he thinks only a couple of the gunfights in town are in compliance with the ordinance, and his is one of them.

“Why would I stand out here in the sun when we have the shade,” he asked, toeing a line in the sand representing the 15-foot limit.

Menges said enforcement of the ordinance seemed to coincide with the opening of the Wyatt Earp Theater gunfight, which “kind of invaded the others’ space.”

“Everyone knows about this ordinance,” he said. “But before it wasn’t enforced because no one caused any problems. It’s the last thing we wanted to see, but here we are.”

Stacy Foster, a narrator and gunfighter at the Wyatt Earp Theatre, said he and his coworkers disagree with the ordinance, but it hasn’t affected their business thus far.

“Even though we’re the newest show in town — we opened in mid-August — we’re doing fantastic,” he said.

Foster said the ordinance has affected the theater’s ability to “robustly advertise” on Allen Street, but that they send off-duty cowboys to promote the theater on the street.

“They basically stand there and answer questions,” he explained. “A lot of tourists ask where to get a good meal or where the gunfights are, so the cowboys tell them. And they tell where all the shows are, so it’s more like they’re ambassadors to the town.”

Menges expressed hope that the gunfights in town would stop working against each other and start cooperating to ensure shared viability and success. Specifically, he shared an idea he had of a kind of “Disney e-Ticket,” which tourists could purchase anywhere in town and use as a punch card to see all of the shows. The gunfights could then have a shared marketing effort and promote one another’s shows, he said.

“We’d have to work out the details, sure, but if we’re working together, not against each other, then what’s the harm? It would let us work together toward our ultimate goal — for people to enjoy the time they have in town.” Menges asked.

It’s a sentiment Foster shares.

“We just want to get along with everybody, so we don’t want to break the rules,” he said. “That way other shows will let tourists know we’re here too.”