They had repeating rifles in the Revolutionary War. Its inventor proposed a trial before Congress: two groups of 20 soldiers, 1 conventional the other equipped and trained by him. If his group killed 20x as many redcoats, the price of the rifle was 20x higher.
Congress passed on the trial offer. No matter how good the invention, he was a terrible entrepreneur. I don't know that he went on to make any significant number, but Congress certainly knew of its existence and made no attempt to regulate ownership.
The Henry was certainly the first in large scale military use. Heck, you could say the Chinese and Leonardo Da Vinchi invented the helicopter, and lots of people developed the concept in the early decades of aviation, but really it was Sikorsky who first made a usable vehicle that was mass-produced and used in numbers by the military. Sort of similar to the Henry being the first assault rifle, Sikorsky made the first practical rotorcraft.
That may all be true. I'm addressing the frequent argument that 2A = muskets, and our found Fathers never envisioned anything else. Which is clearly FALSE. And a big deal now.
They had repeating rifles in the Revolutionary War. Its inventor proposed a trial before Congress: two groups of 20 soldiers, 1 conventional the other equipped and trained by him. If his group killed 20x as many redcoats, the price of the rifle was 20x higher.
Congress passed on the trial offer. No matter how good the invention, he was a terrible entrepreneur. I don't know that he went on to make any significant number, but Congress certainly knew of its existence and made no attempt to regulate ownership.
The Henry was certainly the first in large scale military use. Heck, you could say the Chinese and Leonardo Da Vinchi invented the helicopter, and lots of people developed the concept in the early decades of aviation, but really it was Sikorsky who first made a usable vehicle that was mass-produced and used in numbers by the military. Sort of similar to the Henry being the first assault rifle, Sikorsky made the first practical rotorcraft.
That may all be true. I'm addressing the frequent argument that 2A = muskets, and our found Fathers never envisioned anything else. Which is clearly FALSE. And a big deal now.
If 2A is muskets, 1A is parchment, quill pens, and Gutenberg presses.