Firearms and Today in History...

...are subjects that pop up in my mind now and again. I am, of course, a firearms enthusiast. Yet I am not much of a buff when it comes to firearms in history. Heck, I would rather shoot em that study them; yet I am curious about some of their history. In addition,even though I am not a true general buff, I also enjoy finding out things about history, especially about U.S. history. Now I am about to tell you all about an event that took place on July 11, 1804, and it involves both guns, and U.S. history. It is an event of which every U.S. Citizen should be aware, at least any of us who went through grammar school and paid any attention at all; but my bet is that most people do not know when it happened, or why it happened.

The event was the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. (The photo is supposedly of the actual pistols used in that duel.) This duel took place in Weehawken, NJ despite the fact that both participants were were New Yorkers, and the transgression that led to the duel was a matter relative to New York. My guess is that New York was even so liberal enough back then to have some kind of anti-gun or anti-dueling ordinance, so these guys went to NJ to get the deed done. That is not all that relevant though to the point that they actually were involved in a duel over honor. Can you imagine that. Heck, if you so much as push someone today you would be arrested for something like assault or battery; and how many Americans even care to defend their honor today let alone defend their own country and no I am not belittling anyone in our military, but rather I am belittling those cry baby leftists who pee in their pants over even the thought of aggression or violence to solve a problem).

Do you know why they dueled? Do you know if both fired their weapons? Do you know the intent of each man during the duel? Do you know if either man was killed or wounded? Do you know who won the duel? Do you know what happened to each man after the duel? Do you know if either man was ever an elected official or political leader? If you are at all interested, here is a link to a brief rundown on the subject:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html.

Here is a link to a more detailed depiction of the vent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr-Hamilton_duel

Read the whole Wikipedia depiction, it is fascinating, especially with regard to the mindset of the people back then.

In addition, for the true history buff, or firearms enthusiast, here is a link to an article that suggests that Hamilton (long suspected honorable guy) and Burr (long suspected dishonorable guy) may have actually had opposite roles in this duel:

http://www.aaronburrassociation.org/Smithsonian.htm

Very interesting stuff, to debunk a possible myth about the character of each man, for both the history buff and the firearms enthusiast. The hypothesis in this article is supported by an investigation of facts as opposed to being supported only by anecdotal evidence from friends who attended the duel. I love it. Were they very different than we are today? Make up your own mind on that point; but rest assured that dueling over such an important thing as honor was part of life back then; and while I do not necessarily advocate dueling today, we should not rule out violence as a proper means, of an ordinary man, to reach a worthy end.

All the best,


Glenn B