We have all heard the politicians and gun control advocates say the Founding Fathers only meant muskets. We have heard it said by politicians from New York, Illinois, Minnesota, California, New Mexico, and from gun control advocates everywhere. NewYork Governor Hochul said it when pushing legislation in response to the Bruen decision.
The majority opinion in the Wolford decision further counters the claim of “only muskets” made by gun control activists.
The Associated Press recently ran an article highlighting how powerful black powder firearms are and calling for them to be regulated. Similar news articles ran about the dangers of “Assault Weapons” in the late 1980’s before states started banning semiautomatic firearms. Personally, to me it indicates if they ever manage to ban modern firearms, they will not stop there.
The use of just saying “arms” instead of a more limiting term such as “arms suitable for defence” or even “firearms” was deliberate, and I covered the differences between the Second Amendment and English Bill of Rights of 1689 in a previous article.
There are several indicators that several of the Founding Fathers and other early Patriots were aware of arms technology advancing. Further, even before we get to the Second Amendment, it is clear in the Constitution that they intended civilians to have access to significant arms.
The US Constitution includes granting Congress the power to issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal. These are essentially hunting licenses on the high seas. The specific section is Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11:
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
A letter of Marque grants a privately owned warship or privateer the authority to board, seize, or sink enemy vessels. In addition they extended this to land captures and not just at sea in that clause.
A warship, if even just an armed merchantman, requires far more powerful arms than a musket. This also one of several things that marks politicians saying you couldn’t own a canon in Colonial America or the early United States as a lie.
However, that is not the focus of this article. Did the Founding Fathers know of more advanced arms than muskets like the British standard issue musket called the Brown Bess?
The Pennsylvania or Kentucky long rifle was invented in the colonies in the first half of the 1700’s. In fact in the Battle of King Mountain in 1780 accounts differ, but the Patriot side had a significant number of rifles, and won with tactics that would not be unfamiliar to a 20th century or later soldier. They didn’t line up to trade volleys across an open field. Instead the Patriots used rocks and trees for cover, and fell back when the Loyalists attempted to drive them away with a bayonet charge. Then they would advance, moving from cover to cover and providing cover fire for each other to drive the Loyalist back. In the end 910 Patriots defeated the 1,100 loyalists, capturing over 700 of them.
The rifle was most definitely a known firearm to the Founding Fathers, and likely played a part in most battles of the American Revolution. Rifles have superior range and accuracy compared to a musket, but a slower rate of fire.
The Puckle gun was invented in England in 1721, but only two were manufactured, both of which were purchased privately for use in an expedition to capture St. Lucia and St. Vincent. There is no record of them being used in combat, and while often cited as an example of a repeating firearm it is possible the Founding Fathers may not have heard of it.
However, there are at least two repeating firearms that we know some of the Founding Fathers were aware of.
Thomas Jefferson owned at least two Girardoni Air Rifles. They were capable of firing over 20 shots without needing to be reloaded. As for their effectiveness, the Lewis & Clark Expedition had two of them, and one of which was used to take down a bear attacking the expedition.
In addition the Cookson Repeater was based on a German design that could fire multiple rounds with a lever loading powder and shot into the chamber. The Boston Gazette was owned by two of the Sons of Liberty – John Gills and Benjamin Edes, and worked with several of the Founding Fathers. Paul Revere contributed woodcuts made from lead while they owned it. One of them is believed to have participated in the Boston Tea Party along with Samuel Adams. At the time it was a small paper and that meant the owners were also doing typesetting. In 1756, an advertisement for Cookson Repeaters for sale was published in the newspaper. This means at least one Founding Father had to be aware of their existence.
As such, the Founding Fathers were aware of firearms that were capable of firing more than one round without stopping to reload.
It was never about only single shot muskets. Rifled firearms were well known. There were significant advancements being made in arms around that time, and they would be well known.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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