Suppression Of Arms Commerce Led To The War Of Independence

BY Herschel Smith
6 years, 10 months ago

David B. Kopel:

As the amicus brief explains, a key reason that a decade-long political dispute between Great Britain and American colonies turned into a war was the British government’s attempt to suppress arms commerce. Royal governors illegally seized merchants’ gunpowder and firearms. King George III embargoed the import of arms and ammunition into America. Americans vehemently objected, describing the prohibition of arms commerce as an effort to enslave the Americans, by leaving them no means of resistance to tyranny.

Americans did everything possible to defeat the British suppression of arms commerce. Benjamin Franklin masterminded arms and gunpowder imports from other countries. All forms of domestic production were strongly encouraged.

Then on April 18, 1775, King George renewed the embargo. On that same day, Royal governor Thomas Gage dispatched Redcoat soldiers to seize a large cache of gunpowder in Concord, Massachusetts. Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott rode to raise the alarm. Forewarned, Americans were forearmed. At Concord Bridge, they fired the shot heard round the world. Swarms of armed Americans harried the Redcoats all the way back to Boston, nearly wiped them out, and besieged the city. The War of Independence had begun. Rather than let a government effectuate a prohibition on arms commerce, Americans started a war against the most powerful military in the world.

The above story is told concisely in the amicus brief, and in more detail in my article, How the British Gun Control Program Precipitated the American Revolution, 38 Charleston Law Review 283 (2012).

Go get ’em David.  Kick them in the ass.  Always remind everyone who will listen that gun control started the war against King George and his band of controllers in the states.

The only reason it hasn’t precipitated yet another war of independence is the longsuffering nature of the American people.  That will eventually wear thin and break.  When it does there will be hell to pay.


Comments

  1. On February 12, 2018 at 9:12 am, revjen45 said:

    There will be some precipitating event that finally takes the rag off of the bush, and when that happens nothing will ever be the same.
    The American People have put up with a lot, but when they final have enough it will be scary.

  2. On February 12, 2018 at 9:50 am, Fred said:

    Guess what. The vast majority of the revolutionaries on Lexington Green were Christians from a single church and led by their pastor. These Christians shot and killed tyrants. Suffice it to say that this church wasn’t an IRS registered not for profit corporation. Oh and Lexington Green? Yay, actually the front grassy area and church property.

    “Jonas Clark was pastor of the Church of Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775, the day that British troops marched on Concord with orders to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock and to seize a cache of firearms. It was Pastor Clark’s male congregants who were the first ones to face off against the British troops…”

    https://chuckbaldwinlive.com/Articles/tabid/109/ID/3622/A-Tribute-To-Americas-Patriot-Pastors-And-Stalwart-Statesmen.aspx

    On a completely unrelated aside, How was everybody’s 20 minuet self help, feel good pep talk yesterday from the head of their indebted IRS corporation?

  3. On February 12, 2018 at 9:58 am, Longbow said:

    There was also a ban on using any form of money except for British Pounds. The Americans had been using both Spanish Dollars and Continental Script. There were not enough Br. Pounds in circulation to facilitate commerce and thus the economy was suffering, by an act of Parliament.

  4. On February 12, 2018 at 11:59 am, Gryphon said:

    My suspicion is that >>>they<<< will continue to enact (at the State level) non-constitutional Registration/Bans like in Connecticut, Maryland and New York; the Non-Compliance levels in these States are so high .gov tries to Hide the Fact that people are already 'Drawing a Line' and Refusing to comply… Eventually, like the Last Time, the Minions of the Crown will be ordered to begin Confiscations, and after a few Resisters are massacred, there will be a 'Bundy Ranch' Event where the Shooting Starts. From there, it will Spread nationwide, as there are now Too Many Patriots who realize that the fedgov has de-legitimized itself with the ongoing Treason and Sedition against the (current) President. This sets the stage for Someone, to Refuse the 'authority' of some un-elected bureaucrat and their 'regulations'. Then, the bureaucracy MUST take action, or be rendered Irrelevant… Notice how EVERY 'regulatory agency' now has a paramilitary police force? NOT an accident.

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This article is filed under the category(s) Gun Control and was published February 11th, 2018 by Herschel Smith.

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