I am asking my SO to get me a copy of an old flintlock pistol for Christmas. I intend to buy some black powder and target shoot with it. There are currently no licenses or permits required to either buy or shoot these weapons. I am wondering if those for gun control would advocate increased restrictions on such weapons.
Also, have any of the gun control groups (like Handgun Control Inc. and others) ever pushed to restrict these weapons?
PeeQueue
Just to keep this one on the front page, I’ll toss a WAG in. For the record, I’m a liberal-ass snake of a Democrat who happens to fully support private gun ownership.
If, however, I wanted to erase all guns from the face of the earth, I would first redirect several billion dollars from the military to cold fusion research and publicly funded abortions.
Then, I would go for the emotive approach. I’d find the dozen or so kids in America who have blown a hand off loading black powder weapons, and parade them across Cap Hill and in front of the media. My approach would not take a “guns are evil” tack; instead it would be a “guns are maiming our children” approach. I would point out the stress that this dangerous form of recreation places on our health care system, and I would point out that you, innocent non-black powder gun user, are bearing the costs for such dangerous recreation. Age limits on black powder firearms would be first, then once the new section was in all the state statutes, I would quietly encroach on their general use at the state level by specifying various safety requirements and user fees that would eventually make them unusable. And then they would be gone–poof! Because nobody would dare keep an unregistered firearm. Except criminals, of course.
Then I would shoot up my daily dose of methadone with a free needle, have sex with my secretary against her will, smoke a joint to ease the nonexistent back pain that kept me out of the draft, and sleep like a baby knowing that I had done my part for evil.
I think that, in general, if gun violence weren’t the problem that it is in the U.S., the gun control lobby wouldn’t be that big. Emotionally, at least, the connection between a well-armed populace and lots of death by guns (accidental, criminal, or otherwise) is easy to make, especially when obvious examples exist in other countries with few guns and very little gun violence (like Canada and Britain).
With lots of gun violence, there are much more attractive targets for control, like handguns and rifles with large capacity magazines that are semi-automatic or easily converted to full-auto. Without problematic gun violence, gun control dries up. Canada has no particular problem with gun violence, and no serious gun control lobby; consequently, hunting weapons are easy to obtain, and even semi-automatic handguns and automatic weapons are obtainable with the patience to jump through the paperwork hoops (I knew owners of both). Likewise, there’s no serious movement to control knives or other weapons used in murders, since there’s no perceived benefit to controlling them.
Black powder weapons as a collector’s hobby are too innocuous to attract the attention of gun control lobbyists.
Are you sure about the lack of restrictions on black powder? I’m surprised if it’s true: I would think it would be controlled under the same laws that control other explosive substances, like fireworks.
I believe that in most places you do need to have a permit to store black powder, or maybe it’s to store over a certain amount.
Only several billion? Surely you mean several HUNDRED billion. Or trillion, if you’re talking about a longer period of time.
There are no restrictions on either the guns themselves or the black powder in my state. New Jersey and Massachusetts require some sort of permit or license for each though. There is a federally imposed limit of 50 lbs. of black powder for any one individual, which can be exceed only if you are a distributer.
Regarding children, I would probably support an age requirement for these things (it’s possible there is one already?).
It surprised me to find out about the lack of restricitons as well. I couldn’t believe I was allowed to easily obtain something so obviously fun.
PeeQueue
Sofa King wrote:
They’ll take away your membership card for that, y’know. 
Yeah, I’m kind of like a seedless grape. Not bad once you get to know me, but who knows how in the hell I came to fruition?
BTW, PeeQueue, I have a friend who collects working replicas of flintlocks. He once told me that the quality of some of the pieces was such that he wouldn’t dare fire them. Please be very careful in selecting your piece, and remind the mistrus that price may be the deciding factor between ten-fingered typing and Dragonsoft.
And just to underscore my odd radicalism, I would have to oppose age limits on black powder firearms on principle, for the very reasons I stated above. Incremental legislation is something I deal with every day, and it is every bit as slow and deadly as the grasp of a constrictor. Best to oppose it vociferously up front, with detailed examples of how similar legislation has led to the loss of such a privelege (or right).
Um, if I can’t spell it, does that mean I don’t get it?
Sofa King,
You and I are similar in that respect. I’m a hard core conservative Republican who happens to think abortions should stay legal and that gays can be pretty nice people.
PeeQueue,
Flintlocks are nice, but I prefer black powder pistols that use percussion caps. The reasons being a) you need to carry two different types of powder for the flintlock (one grade to propel the bullet and a finer grade for the flashpan), not to mention flints; b) there is a noticible delay between the time you pull the trigger and the time the pistol fires.
Of course, these two reasons are much of the charm of flintlocks as well.
Also, Sofa King was correct in regards to the quality of different pistols. Thomson Center makes good quality stuff, iirc.
I wonder how HCI will react when I unveil my 15 round semi automatic blackpowder pistol.
It’s amazing what I can do to avoid work.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying something from Pedersoli, which is a reputable company.
And the reason I’m more interested in flintlocks is exactly what you said; along with the fact that I got interested through the fact that I’m a middle ages buff, and my timeline of interest is just extending, but not quite to 1800’s yet. (And, I don’t think anyone is making those guns that use a burning wick as the trigger.)
I hear your bit about incremental legislation, Sofa King, but an age restriction on black powder purchases doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with guns. I’d be more worried about kids in my neighborhood making bombs and blowing up garbage pails. I haven’t thought all that much on it yet though.
Oh and Lazlo, I too can’t wait to see what HCI says about your semi-automatic black powder pistol. Let me know when it’s for sale!
PeeQueue
From my understanding, most, if not all, black powder gun owners enjoy the ‘sport’ of shooting the cumbersome weapons. I doubt it one would find anyone walking into a bank with a single shot, unbored, flintlock pistol to hold up a bank because after the one blast, he’s toast.
Pepperboxes were manually rotated from barrel to barrel, provided all did not go off at once.
While any such gun is deadly, the lengthy reloading process is not something I figure could be beneficial in a street shoot out. Besides, a BP smooth ball or lead slug would not penetrate a bullet proof vest or hit hard enough to really knock the wearer down. BP burns at a finite rate. To produce a higher impact, one needs more powder. Even if one rammed a Teflon coated armor piercing slug down a BP long rifle, the amount of powder needed to get it to go through a vest would probably destroy the gun as well as knock the shooter across the street.
“Besides, a BP smooth ball or lead slug would not penetrate a bullet proof vest or hit hard enough to really knock the wearer down.”
Woa there!
I dont know about the pistols, but my father has a black powder rifle. He claims (I consider my father a pretty reliable source) that he shot a deer w/ his rifle and it was knocked ass over tea kettle. My WAG would be that the ball would not penetrate a vest, but it would knock the man on the receiving end on his ass
Nah. Did you read this man’s martini post? Anyone who’s that funny can stick around.
Sofa King:
You related to the good Dr Hunter S Thompson by any chance? Another gun-loving rad-lib.
Nope, pantom, I’m not related to the good doctor. But we may enjoy other similarities with regard to recreation…
1967GTO:
While no one may rob a bank with a flintlock, I could conceive of someone doing so with a BP revolver. They did it in all those old western movies anyway.
PeeQueue
Hmmm
They have bp shotguns. How about bp shot pistols???
Hey PeeQueue how about you give it a try and get back to us. If you can.
Well, I haven’t seen any bp shot pistols, but I suppose you could just stick a bunch of bb’s into smooth bore pistol and use it like a shotgun.
PeeQueue
– T. Herman Zweibel
I also dig Smoove B, Kornfeld, and Anchower!
Back to the OP - I don’t think that they currently want to outlaw these but after they ban everything that is on the current ‘wish list’ this will come under the crosshairs (pun clearly intended). Black powder is great stuff though - got me through many a lonely afternoon when I was between about 9 and 15 years old. I was probably the only guy around that could have been drafted into the military and taught a class on demolition and explosives the first day! I’m currently working on a potato cannon.
NP: Haggard - Awakening the Centuries
Hey opengrave
Potato cannons are neat.
What are you using for propellant?
Hair spray works.
My nephews bought a flint and steel thing like a cig lighter with a long tail thing that turns the steel. Just point and flick the “Bic”
I’ve wanted to use it with a open faced fishing reel to see how far I could cast.