Muskets versus sexy assault rifles.
Life in America during late 18th century was not a walk in the park. Colonist had none of the luxuries we have to day and virtually everything was hand crafted. In addition to working the farm, shop or store for survival, most men were obligated to serve in a local militia. While primarily focused on keeping internal peace, the militias eventually turned their muskets on the King’s soldiers in revolution.
Virginia planters who were land owners had civic duties as well, such as paying taxes, voting, and participating in county courts as jurors. Men between the ages of 16 and 60 were also required to serve in the county militia. They were required to muster several times each year and had to provide their own gun and ammunition. Militia units were used to keep the peace, fight Indians and put down slave rebellions, if necessary.
Militia musket boot camp
Regular militia training kept the men in practice with the over 15 steps to prime, load and fire a musket. Because muskets did not have a rifled barrel they were fairly inaccurate. Consequently, opposing lines of soldiers would square off relatively close together, 5 to 20 meters apart, to battle one another. A well trained militia man was expected to get off 3 rounds per minute.
When you combine the voluminous amounts of smoke created by the gun powder on both sides of the battle line, the 15 to 20 seconds to reload the musket and poor accuracy over 50 yards, it is clear that the “modern” war fare of revolutionary times was quite different than what we think of today. It is also not surprising that those battles would descend into man to man combat using the bayonet on the end of the musket which tended to be more accurate than firing the weapon.
Be your own militia with an semi-automatic assault rifle
What would the men who fought in the revolution think of a weapon that could be fired 3 times per second, has no smoke, incredible accuracy, and can be fired by a woman in a bikini top? The assault rifles of today, engineered for 21st century war fare, would have been considered a weapon of mass destruction in 1789. With these semi-automatic assault rifles we no longer need militias. Each man, or woman, is his or her own militia. Whereas the survival of communities in colonial America depended upon the cooperation neighbors, the easy access to high powered semi-automatic highly accurate rifles allows each man to be his own island today.
Revolutionary weapon of mass destruction
The constitution is a living document. It has been amended numerous times and the Supreme Court has held different interpretations of various clauses over the years to reflect a changing and diverse society. Are semi-automatic assault rifles necessary for a militia organized by the state? Yes, if we are to engage with an enemy with like weapons. Are these assault weapons the type of firearm envisioned by the authors of the second amendment? Absolutely not. Now that anyone can purchase a revolutionary weapon of mass destruction, they should be “well regulated” at a minimum and a better policy would have them banned from further sale in the United States.