![]() One book will not settle the long-running gun debate, but Haag has powerfully reframed the issue as one rooted in dollars and cents, not the Second Amendment and inalienable rights. “One answer to the question ‘Why do Americans love guns?’ is, simply, that we were invited to do so by those who made and sold them at the moment when their products had shed much of their more practical, utilitarian value.” “With less practical utility, the gun became - and to some extent had to become - an object with emotional value,” Haag writes. Winchester sold 9,800 rifles in 1875 in 1914, its sales figures were 292,400. Interestingly, gun sales boomed as America became less rural and more urbanized. The legendary Winchester was machine tooled to 1/1,000 of an inch and fashioned from interchangeable parts “a mass-produced, mass-marketed object was to become an enduring idiom of American individualism.” The popular media played its part as well, with dime novelists embellishing the legends of gun-toting Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill. The “Wild West,’’ Haag argues, was actually a function of the industrialized East. The gun as an essential component of the image of the rugged individualists who settled this country turns out to be mostly fantasy, concocted in corporate boardrooms. The “Gunning of America’’ abounds with ironies. The weapon’s renown spread, even into the hinterlands of North Africa, where Arab tribesman sought them out from secondhand dealers. Turkish soldiers armed with repeating Winchester 66s - the “hero rifle” - were formidable foes. In 1870, for example, Winchester scored a huge deal with the Ottoman Empire for some 20,000 weapons, which would ravage Russian troops in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. Bellicose European empires proved eager customers. Salesmen fanned out across Asia, the Middle East, and South America. As Haag notes, American gun makers were partly kept aloft by strong foreign demand. But other governments were keen to do business with him. It was a decisive moment for Winchester, one that turned him toward exploiting the civilian market. For instance during the Civil War, the Ordnance Department shunned Winchester’s repeating rifle for more cumbersome and primitive muzzle loaders - the quick-firing feature was considered wasteful. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.One key theme is the vexed relationship between arms manufacturers and the government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. On Sunday, March 15th, 2020 at 00:44 and is filed under Morale, Sales, Weapons. Starting now until all supplies are gone, we will be selling toilet paper on our website at a discounted priced, and to cover all of our customers’ needs, we will be throwing in a free Spec15 Rifle with Every Roll! See the details below.īuy 1 Roll of Toilet Paper for $900 and get 1 Spec15 Rifle Freeīuy 2 Rolls of Toilet Paper for $1,700 and get 2 Spec15 Rifles Freeīuy a Family 4 Pack of Toilet Paper for $3,200 and get 4 Spec15 Rifles Freeī/product/essentials-package/ The full release can be read below:īlack Rain Ordnance is Covering your ASS!ĭue to the rising public concerns and shortages of basic public goods, we at Black Rain have decided to pool our resources and start selling those basic necessities. Bringing a bit of levity to the recent run on toilet paper and other basic supplies brought upon by the spread of the Wuhan Flu AKA the Coronavirus, Black Rain Ordnance is offering a special promotion where you get a free Spec15 rifle with every roll of toilet paper purchased from them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |