Some years ago, before the arrival of air bags that prevent small children from sitting in the front seat, American siblings had an exacting method for determining which child got to sit in the front of the car next to the window on their way to school or church or other destinations. Whenever any given family was about to go anywhere, especially with only one parent, the children would come running out the front door to the car, screaming at the top of their lungs, “Front seat, shotgun!” or just “Shotgun!” depending upon family custom. Usually the one who said it first got the prize passenger seat in front. But siblings often developed elaborate rules for exactly when and where one could call “Shotgun” and how ties would be decided. Occasionally, if the argument was not quickly resolved, a tired parent would step in and announce that no one would be riding shotgun this time. Today there is a website, “The Official Shotgun Rules,”1 that offers regulations for all kinds of situations so that, hopefully, loud disputes about this coveted position in the car can be avoided.
The term “shotgun” comes from the old American West when stagecoaches were manned by a driver and a guard, usually armed with a shotgun, sitting next to him and scouting the landscape for threat. The guard rode “shotgun,” a position that was glamorized long after the West was settled; movies and television kept it alive. Perhaps the children who watched those shows recognized the honor of the seat next to the driver almost unconsciously and knew that somehow it was much more hip to be seen riding in the front by one’s peers. After all, only the most trusted and mature individuals could ride in the front, scan the horizon for danger, and protect the occupants. Not to mention the access one had to the air conditioning, the radio and the driver’s ear.
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