Horse rustlers and bandits from the countryside…

Horse rustlers and bandits from the countryside come to Tombstone and shootings are frequent.

Illegal smuggling and theft of cattle, alcohol, and tobacco across the Mexico-United States border, about thirty miles (forty-eight kilometers) from Tombstone, are common in the 1880s.

The Mexican government taxes these items heavily and smugglers earn a handsome profit by stealing these products in Mexico and smuggling them across the border.

In this border area, there is only one passable route between Arizona and Mexico, a passage known as Guadalupe Canyon.

Fifteen Mexicans carrying gold, coins and bullion to make their purchases had been ambushed and killed in Skeleton Canyon in August 1881.

The next month, Mexican Commandant Felipe Neri had dispatched troops to the border and they in turn had killed five Cowboys, including "Old Man" Clanton, in Guadalupe Canyon.

The Earps know that the McLaurys and Clantons were reputed to be mixed up in the robbery and murder in Skeleton Canyon.

The Tombstone's city council, to reduce crime in Tombstone, had passed an ordinance on April 19, 1881,  prohibiting anyone from carrying a deadly weapon.

Anyone entering town is required to deposit their weapons at a livery or saloon soon after entering town.

The ordinance leads directly to the confrontation that results in the shootout at the O.K. Corral.