<P> Riding shotgun was used to describe the guard who rode alongside a stagecoach driver, ready to use his shotgun to ward off bandits or hostile Native Americans . In modern use, it refers to the practice of sitting alongside the driver in a moving vehicle . The phrase has been used to mean giving actual or figurative support or aid to someone in a situation . The earliest coining of this phrase dates to at most 1905 . </P> <P> The expression "riding shotgun" is derived from "shotgun messenger", a colloquial term for "express messenger", when stagecoach travel was popular during the American Wild West and the Colonial period in Australia . The person rode alongside the driver . The first known use of the phrase "riding shotgun" was in the 1905 novel The Sunset Trail by Alfred Henry Lewis . </P>

Why is the seat next to the driver called shotgun
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