Re: OT: Americans against gun control... This is why..

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Article #15217

#15217

From: Jon Wiest
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 00:00

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You guys might want to check out the history of America's Gun Love in this
week's issue of the Economist ( www.economist.com ).  Turns out that less
than 10% of the population had a gun at all from the days of the Mayflower
up to the Civil War.  Guns had nothing to do with starting the nation or
winning the west, it's a myth.  Guns only became omnipresent during the
Civil War for two reasons:  the cost of manufacture came way down due to the
Industrial Revolution, from a year's wages to about 2 months wages; and
after the war the government let all the soldiers go home with their rifle.
Gun owing shot up 400% right then.

So all that "we won the west because of the gun" or "we fought off the
Indians because of the gun" is horseshit.  Most of America was unarmed in
those days.  In fact, most large cities in the west confiscated weapons when
the cowboys came to town.

Check it out, it's a good read.

Jon

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From: "Jon Wiest" <jwi...@mb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: OT: Americans against gun control... This is why..
Date: 1999/07/10
Message-ID: <x3Uh3.177$v31.18056@news1.mts.net>
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