guns became cheaper in the 1840s thru mass production, but gun ownership didn't become prevalent until the Civil War.
a related article about a real bounty hunter working in NYC is interesting too.
also, a great article on current Georgia.
norm
-----Original Message----- From: James Baird [mailto:jlbaird3 at yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 9:12 PM To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Subject: Re: guns & purses (was Re: guns & crime)
> those burly miscreants, the S.Ct
Oh, I don't know - while they are all miscreants, I'd only classify Scalia and Thomas as "burly". Souter is positively mousy...
In regards the gun debate, I just finished an interesting new book called "Arming America", by Micheal Bellesiles. He gives a lot of background on guns in the colonial and early national period, and sheds a lot of light on the militia. It's his contention that in the late 18th and early 19th century, guns (even those privately obtained, and not provided militia members by the state or federal gov.) were not even properly classified as private property.
They could not be lost in court proceedings, and had to be surrended on demand to state authorities. It's his contention that private ownership of guns in early America was not nearly as common as is usually thought, and those guns that existed were held as a sort of common resource of the community. An interesting read.
Jim Baird
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