COB9KY@aol.com
Mon, 6 Dec 1999 10:45:10 EST
To be perfectly honest with you all, it wouldn't bother me particularly if
they banned all the muzzle loaders too. The unit I belong to is a Living
History organisation and we are quite happy to practice the period drills,
Hardee's, Casey's and Gilham's, live the camplife, cook and eat the rations,
do route marches and practice first-person whether we get to fire the guns or
not.
The hassle of gaining all the requisite licences and then being able to find
a site with a safe storage area for Black Powder, having to guard it 24 hours
a day and having to fill out reams of paperwork to acquire it and then return
it takes a lot out of your re-enacting and research time. Admittedly, my
point of view is not flavour of the month with most ACW re-enactment units,
but then their portrayal of Civil War soldiers wearing modern glasses, modern
workboots, bandannas, Worzel Gummidge hats and Jumble-Sale clothes bears
little relation to any portrayal of any soldier, never mind the WBTS, and
THAT gets my goat.
ACW re-enactment is growing in the Republic of Ireland, where Black Powder is
totally banned, therefore so are Black Powder weapons. These guys are still
re-enacting. If they want to fire weapons, they have to go abroad, which they
do. It CAN be done.
However, as we do own muzzle-loaders, our gun safety and drill is
first-class. Nobody gets on the field in our unit without having undergone a
rigorous examination of their abilities. If only other re-enactment units had
the same standards, I'd be happier. Some of the WWII units I have seen have
no idea how to drill. I watched a bunch 'portraying' a British Guards unit
two years ago at Bovingdon Tank Museum; they were an embarassment. Why do
re-enactors persist in portraying units with a great tradition and a glorious
history and then make a mockery of it?
The statement that the Spencer, Henry, six-shooters etc etc had a 'profound'
effect on the Civil War's outcome is complete baloney. The Civil War was
fought by Infantry and Artillery. The Cavalry and the few units with the
repeaters, the Sharpshooters, the Georgia Pikemen, Thaddeus Lowe and his
balloons are just a sideshow of the big show. Huge armies of Infantry with
longarms fought and decided the Civil War. The Springfield and Enfield rifles
were the weapons that made an impression. Repeating rifles had as much effect
on the Civil War as the Jet engine did on WWII.
If all Oren (Knight of the Burning Pestle and Maurice Chevalier impersonator)
has managed to glean from his years studying the Civil War and the years
leading up to it, is that most males over the age of 15 had a weapon then he
should learn to read rather than teach pigs to sing.
In the 1850's and 60's, America still has a frontier. The spirit of
exploration and adventure pervades the Country. There is a genuine need for
folk on the frontier and even the settled states to be armed. The gun is a
tool, like a plough or a saw or a sewing machine. People still hunted for
food and needed guns to protect themselves from hostiles. This is the nearly
the year 2000. America no longer has a frontier or a wild west to tame. There
is no need to hunt. There are no longer bands of marauding hostiles (unless
you are daft enough to go looking for them in the big city 'hoods'). So what
need is there for automatics, semi-automatics, shotguns etc (apart from those
held by the Armed Forces, National Guard and Police)?
As to Stuart's assertion of the difference between a solid ball from a
smoothbore or rifled weapon and that of a multi shot weapon. Well, if he
can't see the difference between loading and firing a muzzle loader (3 aimed
shots a minute from the best rifleman) to 20 rounds a second or whatever it
is from a Hechler-Koch, then he should join Oren's pig-teaching classes.
Unfortunately, being able to own a weapon that can cause mass loss of life or
injury, whatever fine ideas of Living History or Education you can give is a
non-starter as far as I am concerned.
Fine, so many of you are members of the NRA. Good luck to you. I'm sorry, but
I believe that private individuals owning these types of guns is an
irrelevancy in this day and age. I believe American culture has little to do
with the owning of guns. Slavery, Jim Crow laws and lynchings could have been
seen as part of American culture if you want to be selective on what a
country's national characteristics are all about. It would take a strong mind
and a lot of money to achieve disarmament in the USA, but I believe the UK
has about got it right. Yes, there will still be incidents and occasional
tragedies, even with as Prince Phillip said 'a cricket bat', but at least we
have reduced the likelihood that nutters who have slipped through the net
like at Hungerford and Dunblane will be able to slaughter folk wholesale.
Oren, I don't know where you get off being highly educated and erudite one
minute and then reverting to puerile 'up your ass' comments the next. But if
that's your bag, then I'd rather debate with a coachload of Millwall F.C.
supporters.
Chris O'Brien
The Scalawag Mess
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