The American way with guns
Eli Whitney’s company, the first of the Connecticut Valley manufacturers, survived his death in 1825 and was eventually acquired by one of the iconic names in the history of American arms: the Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven. The Winchester brand is remembered for many things, not the least of which is the “gun that won the West,” a lever-action rifle known as the Model 1873, which was shortened to Model 73. Buffalo Bill carried one and called it “the Boss.”
There is a lot of romance around the 73. The lever action was something that enabled Hollywood actors to do some fancy business, working it one-handed or rapid fire and making a big impression on the kids who wanted BB guns that looked like the rifles they saw the cowboys use in the movies. The Daisy Outdoor Products company obliged them by producing something called the “Red Ryder carbine,” after a Saturday matinee cowboy character.
The Winchester 73 was an essential element in the life of the American West and, less remembered and certainly less romanticized, also in the lives of those who built it in the factories back East. They worked long hours, six days a week, in conditions that would be considered beyond harsh today. They turned out those rifles by the thousand and they made about $600 a year in factories that became the envy of the world.
If the Model 73 was the iconic cowboy rifle, then the Colt Peacemaker was the coeval handgun. The famous six-shooter was also introduced in 1873 and became a part of the furniture of movie and television westerns and was replicated in millions of cap pistols. It has become the Platonic ideal of the revolver and is still being made and shot by aficionados and buffs and reenactors.
Blowback
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I want every one of these clowns, Left and Right, to answer a question about Gun Culture before they comment on the subject.
Starting with Dianne Feinstein (whom I am ashamed to call my Senator), and the first three rules of handling a weapon.
Atlas on February 23, 2013 at 10:29 PM
Rule #1. To check if gun is loaded, look down barrel and squeeze trigger?
OldEnglish on February 23, 2013 at 10:48 PM
What a wonderful read, thank you for linking to that article.
Fenris on February 23, 2013 at 10:51 PM
I was going for:
1. The gun is ALWAYS loaded, unless you yourself have made sure it isn’t. I’m sure Di wouldn’t even know how to check.
2. NEVER point the gun at another human being. Our favorite picture of her shows that she obviously doesn’t know that one either.
3. Do not put a finger on the trigger unless you intend to fire. Madame Senator doesn’t seem to know that one either.
However, whatever the rules may be, neither her nor likely any of the fools who presume to lecture us on guns know nor respect those rules. And yet they have the power and inclination to limit our rights on the matter. Grr…
Atlas on February 23, 2013 at 11:04 PM
It’s almost like there are some people who don’t know about or don’t care about or don’t even like our own country’s history.
But that can’t be. These are our betters, so they are faster, stronger, better, smarter than the rest of us.
CJ on February 23, 2013 at 11:30 PM
awesome read.. thx.
ted c on February 23, 2013 at 11:30 PM
A country that is all but gone.
We’ve been complaining for years that the left had taken over our cultural centers. Hollywood, the schools, even half the churches.
But we never did anything about it. Now more then half the children coming of age think that we’re the strange ones out of synch with the country.
It’s time for us to face the truth. It’s our fault. We wasted our energy on political issues that are more short term then long term.
We should have focused on taking back the schools. Nothing else will matter until we achieve that.
At this point reforming the schools (except maybe some places like Utah that are still overwhelmingly conservative) is hopeless. However we will have a huge opportunity very soon. The schools are running into a problem paying pensions for retired teachers.
Now we could be good little conservatives and make the needed cuts (and then take the blame) to make these pensions “sustainable” and thus “save” the public schools.
I suggest we consider letting the public schools burn and focus on providing alternatives. The Internet should allow us to provide homeschoolers support, and eventually even private “schools” can use the Internet to provide expert instruction.
Sackett on February 23, 2013 at 11:42 PM
Y’know Atlas, I had the 3 Rules drilled in me by Dad and Momma since I and my sister were about 14. I honestly thought Daddy made them up, part of the wisdom of being Dad. It always tickles me when I see The Rules in print or referred to in internet posts.
That is the way it should be, though. The Rules keep you safe, keep your family safe, make you (the gun owner) keep strangers safe. As Dad told us, to own a weapon is an awesome responsibility to yourself and to those around you. You hold a power at your disposal that is final and one that, if ever used, must be answered for here on Earth and before God. No amount of justification and explanation will excuse abuse or misjudgement.
And this is absolutely something those douches will never understand. The “protectors of freedom” that walk the halls of government have no care for the safety or welfare of the populace past the minimum requisites for reelection. They damned sure don’t want the populace taking ultimate responsibility for their own protection. Likewise, they surely don’t want an armed populace as an inhibition to their “inspired” leadership.
So thanks anyway, Washington DC, I’ll keep mine. Pass all the laws you want and demonize it as you will, you control the message and the means. I’m teaching my kids like my folks taught me about weapons; be careful, be safe, be sure with your actions. Never give them up.
Texan on February 23, 2013 at 11:44 PM
True story:
When Diane Feinstein first set out to ban handguns in San Francisco in 1982, she had the board of supervisors do the deed, and then began soliciting, on TV, for everyone to turn in their guns. When it was discovered that she herself had a concealed carry permit and a handgun, she called a press conference in city hall where she handed the chief of police her S&W in its original blue box. The old chief opened the box while she continued to rattle on for the cameras. He took out the revolver and flipped open the cylinder. The look of surprise on his face was priceless as the rounds tumbled out of the loaded gun and into his hand.
This is not Feinstein’s first rodeo, and she’s not getting any smarter.
claudius on February 24, 2013 at 3:11 AM
Americans love their weapons.
Americans love their weapons to have lots of rounds as the Henry Rifle clearly demonstrated.
Americans love their weapons to be rapid action as the lever action rifle clearly demonstrated.
John Browning didn’t invent the lever action rifle, but he damn well perfected it. And also perfected the slide fire weapon. And if you take a look at an Auto-5 semi-auto shotgun, you can see its roots in the lever-action and slide fire weapons group, just adding breech block blow back to go with the barrel of the gun. Winchester missed out when he first proposed the pump action shotgun but when they let Mr. Browning’s designs hit the market they were instant winners. So was the slam fire design where you just kept your finger on the trigger and pumped the action, you got fast, repeatable fire… great for WWI to the point the Germans complained that this hunting weapon should be illegal under the Geneva Conventions… and lost the case. If you love your pump action, reliable shotgun today remember it came from a 19th century innovator and inventor who holds more patents for firearms than anyone else on the planet. Just try and make a gun that is innovative and not based on work done by John Browning.
Colt may have made sure that all men were equally armed, but Browning put the food on the table, the M1911 in your hands, the Ma-Deuce on the battlefield and serves as an obstacle to new patents because he did so much to give us the modern firearms world that it is difficult to find things he didn’t do. Colt and Winchester may have won the west, but Browning made sure it got settled down and you could make a decent living there and protect your family. Still does, come to that, as that pump action shotgun’s legacy is still alive in CQB and home defense in the US and for that I am very thankful to John Moses Browning. Who just happened to be a Mormon. Amendment I and II working together there. Thank the Lord and pass the ammo.
ajacksonian on February 24, 2013 at 7:19 AM
Fixed…
I really like the proper terms to be used with shooting.
trs on February 24, 2013 at 7:24 AM
I agree whole heartily. Browning was a genius and I own several of his designs. My favorite is the 1911. Best handgun EVER produced, period, end of story.
BierManVA on February 24, 2013 at 7:34 AM
Cool read!
———-
A random thought: What if we were to prohibit every film, old or new, that has a gun in it that gets fired more than 6 times and confiscated any profits of those films? Seems only logical…if we are banning firearms, then we should ban anything that shows “the general public” how to use one. And of course, we should fine and/or imprison those that possess copies of said film? TURN IN YOUR DVDs!
Just seems logical that we should abuse the First Amendment that same way they want to abuse the Second.
ProfShadow on February 24, 2013 at 7:34 AM