Interesting 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 gunpowde

Interesting 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.