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The first percussion cap for a cartridge wasn't patented until 1807, not in common use until 1825-30 when the bolt action arrived, and not popularized until the
by kurthr 9y ago
The first percussion cap for a cartridge wasn't patented until 1807, not in common use until 1825-30 when the bolt action arrived, and not popularized until the Colt revolver in 1835.
Rapid firing guns of more than ~6 shots didn't arrive in the US until the civil war.
- pjmlp 9y agoIf you prefer to be pedantic regarding English sentence construction, instead of the actual problem that costs lives every single year, > Like carrying guns as if we were still in the 19th century.
- kurthr 9y agoActually, it was a point about what the writers of the constitution considered arms in the meaning of the second amendment... they were muskets, not even revolvers much less semi-automatic weapons. I happen to be quite aware of the "actual problem", and I'd like to work with all people to solve it, since I know people who have been killed by fire arms... even if I am a pedant. What is your damage?
- rorykoehler 9y agoInteresting I would have thought it was much earlier. I had to look it up on wikipedia: >The first device identified as a gun, a bamboo tube that used gunpowder to fire a spear, appeared in China around AD 1000. The Chinese had previously invented gunpowder in the 9th century. & >English Privy Wardrobe accounts list "ribaldis", a type of cannon, in the 1340s, and siege guns were used by the English at Calais in 1346.The earliest surviving[clarification needed] firearm in Europe has been found from Otepää, Estonia and it dates to at least 1396. I think it's fair to say that guns have been around a lot longer than the USA has.
- jessaustin 9y agoPresumably children wouldn't write college essays about their experiences protesting the bamboo tube with a spear sticking out of it?