During the Middle Ages, steel tools were kept under lock and key and often guarded. Quality tools were expensive and hard to get, and lots of work required good tools. Shovels, axes, hammers and chisels were required for virtually every daily chore. Knives were carried by everyone, and swords and battle axes by those who could afford them.
Gunfighting is pretty much an American phenomenon. The trans-Mississippi West conjures up dust-blown streets, fixed gazes, and worn steel drawn from weathered leather. No other country has a gunfighting history equal to ours.