Joan Weldon & Randolph Scott in RIDING SHOTGUN
The term "riding shotgun" originates in the early 1700s and for almost two centuries it literally meant a person riding beside the driver of a stagecoach or other vehicle armed with a weapon, A shotgun was the original weapon of choice as it offered a better chance of hitting a robber from a moving vehicle on rough roads at speed.
Armed guards positioned beside drivers continued long after stagecoaches were replaced by motorized vehicles.
The term gained popularity in movies like Stagecoach (1939) and Riding Shotgun (1954).
Andy Devine & George Bancroft STAGECOACH
By the 1960s, it had entered into American culture as a common way to claim the front passenger seat with the phrase "I call shotgun."
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