I find this to be a very interesting question. It is quite difficult to extract reality from mythology and downright fiction when it comes to the "Old West". The interesting bit to me is that the mythology got written as the events unfolded. Sensationalization of events made its way into print media of the day and direct, reliable reports and evidence of events can be difficult to track down.

One of the more "romantic" bits of when the Old West supposedly died was Wyatt Earp's funeral which didn't happen until 1929. Earp served as a consultant on many early Westerns in Hollywood and in a sense played a very real role in shaping the way the Old West Mythology would be protrayed in film well beyond his passing.

In practice however, there are various pockets of areas west of the Mississippi that you can find farms and ranches that are run by direct decendants of those Old West folks whose lifestyles would not be completely alien to their forebearers.

I do want to take the time in the rest of this post to talk about the carry/open carry of a firearm in small towns and rural places in the "Old West". Famers and ranchers frequently will have a "varmit" gun in their vehicle for protection of crops and livestock. Such weapons are usually small caliber pistols or rifles, or a variety of shotguns. While these are still deadly weapons and at least somewhat similar to what was used in the old west, they are hardly the sorts of weapons that come up in most gun control debates. I will state that in personal interactions (including some interviews in helping build some family histories) with folks who carry "varmit" weapons in their vehicles, that they do worry about human "varmits" as even "local" police forces can take a long time to respond due to distance and road issues.

This also brings about issues with policing in small towns. Similar to the Old West many areas have a very scant Law Enforcement Officer presence. It's not that there is a total abscense of crime but a scarcity of people to fund LEO per quare mile and in fact many of these rural departments have more officers per citizen than large urban cities, even if some departments have patrol areas as big as some Eastern States.

While gun racks and weapons in vehicles are common in these areas, one difference that you would certainly see is a lack of pistol holstered "cowboys" walking around town entering shops, bars, etc. with openly displayed weapons. They may very well have multiple weapons and boxes of ammo in their vehicle, but rarely would they have the need to keep it on their person. I would say that a fair part of the difference isn't so much a fear for personal safety (or lack thereof), but more of a sense of security of personal property. Weapons stored in a vehicle (even if it is unlocked) is at least somewhat more secure than left on a horse tied up out front.

Finally, I will leave you with a bit of personal experience. I grew up in a small Western Kansas town (population less than 200) in the 1990's it wasn't that uncommon for many vehicles in our high school parking lot to have loaded weapons in them which would varry depending on which hunting season was current or which vehicle the kids jumped in to head in to school. I have personally witnessed that it still happens there to this day. Living in a Midwestern city now I can't fathom such a thing happening in most of the schools around here, but I can imagine that a few of the more rural schools might occasionaly have a high schooler who might accidently have a loaded weapon in their vehicle. I know there are almost certainly gun laws against the above, but enforcement wasn't/isn't necissarily a priority for most officers in the area at most the kids and parents would get a warning by the officer (who likely would know the family anway, and possibly understand any danger or lack thereof).