9781422273548

DAVID WILSON

MASON CREST PH I L ADELPH I A | MI AMI

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Foreword .................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: The Colony, the Militia, and the Gun ................ 11 Chapter 2: Challenges to the Militia and the Firearm ....... 27 Chapter 3: The NRA and the Development of the Gun Lobby, 1871 to 1977 .................................... 45 Chapter 4: The Gun and Gun Control Lobbies as Political Heavyweights, 1977 to the Present . .... 61 Chapter 5: The Future of the Second Amendment . ........... 79 Series Glossary of Key Terms ................................................. 88 Further Reading & Internet Resources ................................. 92 Index . ........................................................................................ 94 Author’s Biography ................................................................. 96 Credits . ..................................................................................... 96 K E Y I C O N S T O L O O K F O R Words to Understand: These words, with their easy-to-understand definitions, will increase readers’ understanding of the text while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

It was an honor to be asked to write the foreword for the Gun Country series. Since I’m not a celebrity, and it is unlikely you have ever heard of me, I’d like to tell you a bit about my background and experience as it applies to guns. I am a security, emergency management, and business continuity consultant helping public and private sector organizations to be better prepared to withstand disasters. I help them draft plans, provide training, and conduct exercises to improve their organizations’ preparedness posture. In short, I coach organizations on how to ready their people to handle crises. My career began as a Marine infantryman, armorer, and counterintelligence specialist. I then became a police officer, serving as a SWAT officer, firearms instructor, hostage negotiator, and neighborhood team leader. I’ve worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as an intelligence officer and protective security advisor. I’ve been the chief instructor at a private shooting club. Mixed in there were a few years as a volunteer firefighter and EMT. My knowledge of guns is fairly extensive. I know quite a bit about numerous makes and models of guns, including rifles, pistols, and shotguns. I’ve fired many types and styles of guns from .22 caliber pistols (very small) to 155-millimeter howitzers (so big they need to be towed by a truck). I have a great deal of experience in “use of force,” which is the legal term for the appropriate times and conditions when different types of force can be used by civilians, the military, and law enforcement. I’ve seen close-up what guns can do to a human body. But I am getting ahead of myself. I am what some would consider a late bloomer when it comes to shooting and guns. My

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shooting experience started when I was eighteen at U.S. Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. Prior to that, the only guns I knew were toys and BB guns. You may have heard it is important to make a good first impression; well, the rifle ranges of Parris Island certainly made a good first impression on me. Boot camp takes about three months. The first month was filled with screaming drill instructors, summer humidity and heat, and what seemed like endless push-ups. Very disorienting and uncomfortable. As the second month of boot camp began, our company marched out to the rifle ranges and the change in atmosphere was remarkable. We began our march at the industrial Mainside part of the base and ended at the pastoral grounds of the ranges. Where Mainside was mostly paved and sandy, the ranges had huge fields of green grass. Where Mainside had quite a bit of traffic and other mechanical noise from steam plants and the like, the ranges were quiet with the sound of birds and the wind blowing through the trees punctuated by the pleasant sound of the crack of rifle fire as Marines practiced their craft. The difference was amazing. That initial experience set a high standard for the rest of my life. The training I received there was exceptional; few would argue the Marines create excellent shooters. Over the next fifteen years I would experience a wide variety of firearms as I became an expert in their operation and maintenance and learned how to employ them to inflict the least damage while accomplishing a mission or in the line of duty. I would not consider myself a “gun nut” or even an enthusiast. I don’t own very many. I don’t get emotional when I’m around them. I look at them as tools, much like a carpenter looks at a hammer. I’m comfortable around them because I know what they can and cannot do. My position on guns is that of a pragmatic advocate. The appropriate gun in the hands of a well-trained person can result

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in the pursuit of a lifelong and engaging sport. It can also be a potent solution to a desperate problem and a powerful deterrent. I believe guns alone are not dangerous. As with many controversial topics, the disagreements often arise from a lack of knowledge and experience coupled with our natural tendency to generalize and oversimplify complex problems. We are better served when we gather information from varied sources and break down the problems into manageable issues. I’m not asking you to agree with me. Based on what I know and what I’ve done, this is how I feel. I will continue to read thoughtful material and talk to people who make a conscientious effort to understand the issues. That’s one of the reasons I appreciate this series as it does a very good job exploring some of the most contentious issues such as assault weapons, the gun economy, and Second Amendment rights. Clients frequently ask me to help them address the threat of an active assailant, commonly referred to as an “active shooter.” The active shooter scenario encompasses so many of the issues surrounding guns. Mental health, gun ownership, concealed carry, and law enforcement response are all part of the conversation although some of my clients seem unaware of the connections. I wish I’d been able to refer them to the Gun Country series to fill some of their knowledge gaps. By reading this foreword and having the series in front of you, you are already ahead of the game. You are on your way to forming your own thoughtful opinion on the topic of guns and the surrounding issues. I admire the good work author David Wilson has done presenting a complicated topic in a fair and straightforward manner. I encourage you to take the time to carefully consume this series regardless of your current position on the topic. Do the activities, follow the video links, and answer the questions at the end of the chapters. Keep an open mind and turn up your critical

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thinking. Ask yourself difficult questions and then actively pursue the answers. By doing these small additional tasks, you will come away with a very good base of knowledge on a complicated subject. If you still have questions, use the information and knowledge from the Gun Country series to drive further research. If you have not already done so, consider visiting a gun show, take a marksmanship class and shoot a pistol if you never have, and talk with law enforcement to gain their perspective. You should also consider talking with emergency room doctors and nurses, teachers, and school administrators for their perspectives as well. To think is not to know. To experience is to know. Use this series as the basis for your experience.

Jeff Murray, MA ASIS Certified Protection Professional Certified Firearms Instructor

Foreword

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Gun ownership has been controversial since the earliest days of colonial America.

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND

amendment: An additional piece of legislation, most often referring to an addition to the United States Constitution. federal: The highest level of national government, with authority over all citizens. inalienable rights: Human rights that are not granted by the government, such as the right to life, which no leader or government can take away. militia: Organized, armed citizens who are not active members of the military, volunteering to participate in armed conflict for the defense of their city and/or state.

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The Colony, the Militia, and the Gun

A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. —The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution Most Americans might think that the controversy and challenges regarding the Second Amendment have appeared only recently, with the invention of automatic rifles or assault weapons. In reality, gun ownership has been controversial since the earliest days of colonial America, drawing out fierce passions that would be echoed over the centuries. The First Americans, the First Guns The history of gun laws in the United States can be traced back four centuries, to the first charter established by the Virginia colony’s General Assembly, stating that “no man do sell or give any Indians any shot [ammunition], piece [firearm], or [gun]

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The history of gun laws in the United States can be traced back four centuries.

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powder, or any other arms offensive or defensive, upon pain of being held a traitor to the colony and of being hanged as soon as the fact is proved, without all redemption.” The first colonists feared to lose their technological monopoly over the Native population that still relied on arrows made of sharpened stone and hardened wood for hunting and warfare. Native American arrows were, in fact, superior to European firearms in terms of both firing accuracy and speed. Firearms’ explosive display of power, however, would make them a trade good of tremendous value for Native populations during the history of colonization and expansion in the United States. What’s more, the law failed to prevent colonists and traders from France, Spain, the Netherlands, and even Sweden from supplying Native American tribes with firearms. Foreigners were not the only threat to the colonies. By 1637, the Massachusetts colony enacted a law stating that those who had “opinions & revelations [that] seduced & led to dangerous errors many of the people” would have to turn in “guns, pistols, swords, powder shot, & match,” barring them from the ability to “buy or borrow” until a court declared them capable. The Guns of the Colonies By the time of the American Revolution, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the vast majority of the population owned firearms, and the few who did not would nevertheless know how to use them. Most Americans at the time of the Revolution were farmers who relied on muskets, rifles, and fowling pieces for hunting or for keeping wolves away from their livestock. A North Carolina hunting law established in 1768 required all men to have a license, and being caught without one led to the forfeiture of a gun and a fine of five pounds—almost a year’s wages for a manual laborer at that time. What’s more, some states, like Massachusetts, had explicit laws requiring men

Chapter 1: The Colony, the Militia, and the Gun

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By the time of the American Revolution, the vast majority of the population owned firearms.

to own a firearm, one pound of gunpowder, and one pound of bullets for the purpose of the militia . Militia service was mandatory for all property-owning white men (that is, all those who wrote the laws, and all those who had the most to lose). The militia represented a crucial source of community security during the colonial era. Disputes, border raids, and even military campaigns by Native American tribes and rival Europeans threatened both home and hearth. New England alone was estimated to have 150,000 militia members, “capable of shooting a pimple off a man’s nose without hurting them.” The mass ownership of firearms required mass legislation, and the colonies and early states would pass some 600 different

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