Not to say that the 2nd amendment, as written, isn’t totally wild.
However I do want to mention that the Continental congress was petitioned by John Belton in 1777 to purchase his 16-shot musket. It also had a not-quite-magazine that could be replaced very quickly. The 16 shots could be fired as quickly as the user could pull the triggers (yes it had multiple).
Given this, it seems likely that the people writing the constitution ten years later had some idea of rapid fire weaponry.
Just 20 years after that, they sent Lewis and Clarke expedition out with a relatively rapid firing airgun.
It is reasonable to say that rapid fire weaponry was contemporaneous to the constitution writing era.
I was going to essentially say this same thing so I’ll just add there was also the Chambers ‘machine gun’ a flintlock naval gun able of firing 224 shots @ ~120 rounds per minute.
The technology we associate with periods of time isn’t reflective of the peak of technology but more often the median. In the last army rifle trials a company was trying to get a rifle with caseless ammunition in service. That technology has been around since the 1850s and still hasn’t been adopted by anyone despite it’s obvious advantages.
Not to say that the 2nd amendment, as written, isn’t totally wild.
However I do want to mention that the Continental congress was petitioned by John Belton in 1777 to purchase his 16-shot musket. It also had a not-quite-magazine that could be replaced very quickly. The 16 shots could be fired as quickly as the user could pull the triggers (yes it had multiple).
Given this, it seems likely that the people writing the constitution ten years later had some idea of rapid fire weaponry.
Just 20 years after that, they sent Lewis and Clarke expedition out with a relatively rapid firing airgun.
It is reasonable to say that rapid fire weaponry was contemporaneous to the constitution writing era.
I was going to essentially say this same thing so I’ll just add there was also the Chambers ‘machine gun’ a flintlock naval gun able of firing 224 shots @ ~120 rounds per minute.
The technology we associate with periods of time isn’t reflective of the peak of technology but more often the median. In the last army rifle trials a company was trying to get a rifle with caseless ammunition in service. That technology has been around since the 1850s and still hasn’t been adopted by anyone despite it’s obvious advantages.