Well … okay, I guess this did advance the plot. Hero Joe is being set up for murder, but he has no weapon, so this chapter gets a gun in his hands.
The only thing is, I don’t buy it. The sheriff has the DTs and doesn’t trust himself with his gun, so he gives the gun to Hero Joe. I’d say a better solution would be to take the bullets out of the gun until the DTs pass, or go on sick leave, or just don’t hand over your gun to a random citizen who’s been getting in bar fights.
There are only about four more chapters. This Gun Ex Machina needs to be employed in the next chapter or we are going to run out of novel.