This day in history

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Destroyer

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On this day in 1836, the government of the United States granted a patent on a device that would become the prototypical American weapon.

And, by accident, its development would become a prototypical story of American invention.

The patent, of course, was awarded to Samuel Colt for his "single barrel pistol with a six chamber revolving breech." You and I (as well as Hoppy, Roy and Gene) knew it as a "six shooter."

Colt's idea was not entirely unique.

Several patents for revolvers had been granted earlier (one of the earliest was for a "12 shooter" but it, like the others, didn't work well).

But Colt, who was 22 when he got the patent, showed his gun was practical (and at the time....it was the only way a man on horseback could get several shots off successfully).

Therefore, it seemed like a good idea and Colt found backers who helped him open "The Patent Arms Company" in Paterson, N.J.

But despite rave notices for the weapon, sales were slow and the factory closed in 1842.

Colt slipped closer to bankruptcy.

Then in 1846, fate took another weird turn.

The U.S. was going to war with Mexico.

And the Texans they were fighting for, suggested to the American Secretary of War that many of them were very happy with Mr. Colt's six shooter.

So the Secretary of War ordered lots of them.

That left Mr. Colt with several problems.

1) He had no factory.

2) He didn't have a six-shooter left to his name.

He attacked the second one first.

He advertised for samples of his own gun.

Gun owners thought the ads meant the revolver was now a collector's item…..so they refused to sell.

Colt was reduced to hiring a gunsmith to work from Colt's own original diagrams (with suggestions from the famous Texas Ranger - Sam Walker).

Finally.....when they had developed a prototype…..Colt needed to hurry things up.

So he hired…..who else.....the son of Eli Whitney to implement the concepts of mass production and interchangeable parts.

Within a decade the Colt .44 was the gun that was winning the West.

To celebrate go to some place with a swinging door and order six shots of red eye.

And tell the surly looking guy with a facial tic and a mustache (down at the end of the bar), the immortal words of Hopalong Cassidy.

"No matter how loud or how fierce the guy behind a rock sounds, if you count the bullets, when he's out of ammunition, he’s out of luck!”



Thanks, Hoppy.
 
the Smith and Wesson double action of the same era was a far more modern and better design, but was plagued with metallurgy and strength issues.


Ironically, the State of Connecticut will start issuing firearm confiscation orders this Monday to 216 otherwise law abiding citizens while attempting to enforce an unconstitutional law. Sam Colt is truly turning over in his grave
 
all thanks to some NUT JOB in SANDYHOOK , gun's made this country and if not for them we would not be speaking ENGLISH !!
 
I was not aware of the Connecticut issue, so I did a little surfing on the web. Thank you Spare for bring this to everyone's attention. This is what SpareParts was referring to:

Since last year’s tragic Sandy Hook shooting, Connecticut lawmakers have “led” the nation in violating their citizens’ second amendment rights!

In Connecticut, the state legislature passed a bill banning so-called “high capacity” magazines (anything above 10 rounds) and semi-automatic rifles with certain prohibited cosmetic attachments.

Anyone who owned a magazine or rifle before the law was passed was grandfathered in, but they were also forced to register these “dangerous weapons” with the state before January 1, 2014. Well, the registration deadline came and went and the registration numbers are quite interesting…

Just like in neighboring New York, gun owners in Connecticut are refusing to register their firearms with the state. These law-abiding citizens became felons overnight when the Connecticut legislature passed a law that arbitrarily outlawed their previously legal firearms. A total of 47,916 people registered their firearms and another 40,000 people registered their “high capacity” magazines with the State of Connecticut by the January 1st deadline. However, that could represent as little as 4% of the total number of “assault weapons” and prohibited magazines owned in the state.

In a massive show of civil disobedience, gun owners have refused to comply with the mandated registration and, as a result, Connecticut’s unjust law has created upwards of 100,000 felons who have otherwise committed no crime!

Now, however, the State is going after these gun owners and has begun sending out gun confiscation letters!

Someone must have forgotten to tell the Connecticut congress that the RIGHT to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed upon!

You see, many gun owners tried to send in their registration forms by the deadline but did not account for the fact that the post office would be closed for New Year’s. This led to a number of registration forms arriving after the deadline. Rather than introduce new legislation to extend the registration window, Governor Dannel Malloy unilaterally decided to extend the deadline for three days. That means that all registration forms received by January 4th would still be accepted.

Well, a few hundred applications still arrived after this second arbitrary deadline and the State of Connecticut has decided to go after these law-abiding gun owners!

As we speak, a little over two-hundred confiscation notices are en route to Connecticut citizens who own semi-automatic rifles and prohibited magazines. Rather than treat the late registration forms as applications, the state is treating them like notarized admissions of guilt!

The letters from the State of Connecticut Special Licensing and Firearms Unit reads that because the applicant failed to meet the arbitrary deadline, he or she has one of four options:

1) Render the weapon/magazine inoperable;

2) Sell the weapon/magazine to a licensed dealer;

3) Remove the assault weapon/magazine from the state; or

4) Make arrangements to relinquish the weapon/magazine to a police department.

The ball is now in the gun owners’ court. While the vast majority of gun owners have defied the registration law, those who attempted to register their guns but missed the deadline now find themselves in the state’s crosshairs (pun intended).

The State knows these people possess “illegal” weapons and magazines. It is doubtful that police will just trust that the citizens complied with the order. They will have to go door to door to make sure that these gun owners are in compliance. What happens next is anyone’s guess…

Will the police confiscate the weapons using force? Will the citizens violently resist this infringement on their second amendment rights?

What is taking place in Connecticut – the “Constitution State” – should be a stark reminder to all Americans of just how fragile our Second Amendment rights are!



The fact is, all three branches of government are conspiring against us to try to disarm the population!

Barack Obama has made it plainly obvious that he supports an “assault weapons ban” and, if he had the power, I am sure he would institute it using one of those executive orders he is so fond of…

The Supreme Court? It can’t be trusted! Sure, the Court has given second amendment supporters something to cheer about in recent years, but it repeatedly refuses to hear challenges to unconstitutional, liberal gun laws. Even as courts around the country infringe on citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms, the Supreme Court refuses to step in!

Then there is Congress… At first glance, Congress seems to have abandoned the gun control fight. Last year’s failure to pass watered-down legislation in the Senate seems to have revealed gun control to be impossible this term. However, we escaped the last fight by the skin of our teeth. Five more votes in favor of the Manchin-Toomey Background-Check bill would have pushed it through in the Senate. Then we would be forced to count on John Boehner to defend our Constitutional rights. Don’t hold your breath on that one…

The Senate is 5 votes away from passing gun control and the House of Representatives could be only two dozen votes away as well. We cannot become complacent and assume that we have won. The gun control groups are out in force lobbying and pressuring Congress to take up the issue of gun control again.

The truth is that we are one tragedy and just a handful of votes away from expanding Connecticut’s gun confiscation program nationwide!

Americans have a duty to oppose all unconstitutional laws. Any unconstitutional law or statute is, according to the law, immediately voided. What happens, though, when the war comes to your doorstep?

The American Revolution is taught today and school children are led to believe that a vast majority of the American colonists resisted British rule. This couldn't be farther from the truth.

All in all, just 3% of the Colonial population actively resisted King George and the British Army. The other 97% resisted passively, were too afraid to do anything, or remained loyal to the crown. Just three percent of the population was able to defeat the greatest military power in the world.

We could have just as easily lost the American Revolution, however. One percent less support and the revolution could have failed.

How many people do you think will stand on behalf of our natural rights and resist these unconstitutional gun control laws? Three percent?

If only three percent of gun owners resist the government’s efforts to rob us of our life, liberty, and property, than the battle is already lost.

I pray to God that it never comes to this point. I pray that we can stop the next round of gun control before it is too late.

Guys, our second amendment rights are teetering on the edge, relying on a handful of Congressmen to honor their oaths. We cannot afford a three percent showing. In order for us to succeed, we need every patriot, Republican and Democrat, to stand as one and vocally resist these affronts to our liberty. Only after we have exhausted every peaceful mechanism can we turn to active resistance.
 
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