The couple that hunts together, stays together. Think they`re on a special outing for Valentine`s Day?

Image: 1904 Stevens Rifle Ad
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#gunads #vintagegunads #stevensrifle #stevensrifles #stevensriflead #stevensad #vintageads #historyinads #huntinglife #couplesthathunttogether #couplesthathunt #coupleswhohunt #hunttogether #couplesthathunttogetherstaytogether #womenhunters #womenthathunt #outdoorswoman #huntingisfun #shotgunhunting #vintagehuntingillustration #huntingillustration #righttobeararms #huntinglife #outdoorsman #outdoorlife #huntingatthebeach ...

"Second Amendment deprivations were debated in bills leading to the enactment of the Freedmen’s Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866.... Rep. Thomas Eliot quoted a report from the Freedmen’s Bureau: `The civil law prohibits the colored man from bearing arms; returned soldiers are, by the civil officers, dispossessed of their arms and fined for violation of the law.` As the commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau put it, `the right of the people to keep and bear arms as provided in the Constitution is infringed….`

"Muskets used in military service were thus considered arms protected by the Second Amendment. While they had to be reloaded after each shot, a typical musket was a formidable weapon: `A rifle [musket] could fire a bullet with man-killing accuracy over 800 yards….` Standard bullets were .58 caliber weighing 510 grains,13 which is enormous compared to today’s much smaller bullets, such as the .223 caliber bullet weighing fifty-five grains used in many AR-15 rifles.

"But that military utility did not preclude constitutional protection. Muskets also had civilian uses. A Freedmen’s Bureau official testified that blacks `are proud of owning a musket or fowling-piece. They use them often for the destruction of vermin and game.`”

From Halbrook, America`s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15, p. 136.

Photo: Black Union soldiers at Picket Station, Dutch Gap, Virginia. (November 1864)
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#freedmensbureauact #fourteenthamendment #14amendment #civilrightsact #civilrightsactof1866 #freedmensbureau #infringed #reconstruction #constitutionalprotection #militaryweapons #civilianweapons #musketbullet #musketbullets #blackcodes #postcivilwar #firearmsrights #civilwarguns #muskets #americasrifle #AmericasRifleTheCaseForTheAR15 #2ahistory #gunhistory #gunlaws #guncontrollaw #guncontrollaws #firearmsprohibition #2ndamendmentrights #righttobeararms #righttokeepandbeararms #blackgunsmatter ...

"The Second Amendment, Sensitive Places, and Comprehensive Government Security compendium by Dr. Angus McClellan has just been posted on SSRN. This comprehensive survey of historic `gun free zones` demonstrates that when the government required its citizens to disarm to enter such locations, it protected them with armed security....

"... McClellan`s research will be invaluable for scholars and litigators researching America`s historical tradition of firearm regulation as it concerns so-called `sensitive places.`

"...Vast evidence exists that security was provided in each of the 13 original states (plus Vermont) in courthouses and legislative assemblies. Evidence was also located that 10 of the original states had security at polling places...."
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"In short, yes, there were sensitive locations at the time of the Founding. And when Founding-era governments did not have the resources to secure all such locations, the Founders had a solution to that problem. They required men to bring their firearms to church. This is unlike the approach we see today in states like New Jersey, New York, California, and Hawaii where government-mandated gun free zones render their citizens defenseless. It was precisely the opposite of the approach of such states today– rather than making the sensitive location a gun free zone, they required citizens to arm to protect themselves."

The above excerpts are from my Second Amendment Roundup blog post, "Sensitive Places Require Government-Provided Armed Security" (2/9/26).

Read the post at reason.com/volokh or copy and paste: https://reason.com/volokh/2026/02/09/second-amendment-roundup-sensitive-places-require-government-provided-armed-security/

Link can also be accessed through the home page of my website, stephenhalbrook.com
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#2amendmentandsensitiveplaces #governmentsecurity #AngusMcClellan #gunfreezone #gunfreezones #disarmedcitizens #nysrpavbruen #sensitiveplaces #sensitiveplacesdoctrine #armedsecurity #armsrestriction #gunrestriction #publicassemblies #foundingera #militia #armedprotection #schoolgunrestrictions #handgunban #gunlaws #2achallenge #2acase #2acases #2ndamendmentcases #firearmslaw #historyandtradition ...

In 1881, "the New York Penal Code for the first time restricted concealed weapons: `A person who carries concealed about his person any kind of firearms ... such as is [sic] usually employed in attack or defense of the person, is guilty of a misdemeanor.` That same year, New York City made it an offense for a person to possess a pistol `concealed on his person, or not carried openly,` without a permit, which would be issued to `a proper and law abiding person` `to carry a pistol for his protection.` And in 1884, New York passed a law requiring a license for a person under eighteen years old to carry a pistol or other firearm in a public street, highway, or place of a city.

"The Penal Code effective in 1895 showed the state ban on carrying concealed weapons to have been repealed. Then, in 1910, it became a crime for a person to `have or carry concealed upon his person in any city, village or town of this state, any pistol, revolver or other firearm without a written license therefor ....` Thus for many years open possession of pistols and revolvers and all other firearms was permissible. The law only prohibited concealment of weapons."

From Halbrook, The Right to Bear Arms: A Constitutional Right of the People or a Privilege of the Ruling Class?, p. 268-69 (hardback edition).
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#newyorkpenalcode #nylaws #firearmpossession #carryapistol #individualrights #defensivecarry #armedselfdefense #righttocarry #openpossession #pistolsandrevolvers #concealedcarryban #keepandbeararms #therightofthepeople #2ahistory #lawfulcarry #concealedfirearm #opencarry #concealedcarry #concealedweapon #concealedweapons #armedcitizen #armedcitizens #therighttobeararms #therighttobeararmshalbrook #armedpeople #gunrightsmatter #2amendmentsupporter #gunrightsmatter ...

[ENGLISH BELOW] "Embora as autoridades não estivessem preparadas para ir tão longe, o Parlamento aprovou a Lei Contra o Mau Uso de Armas (Gesetz gegen Waffenmiβbrauch), assinada pelo Presidente do Reich, Paul von Hindenburg, e pelo Ministro do Interior Wirth, em 28 de março de 1931. Excluia o porte de porretes e facões para além da própria residência, exceto para policiais, portadores de permissões de posse de arma de fogo e caçadores. Além disso, tornou crime a reunião de pessoas armadas em espaços públicos por propósitos políticos. A polícia recebeu poderes ilimitados quanto às licenças e quanto à aplicação dessas leis, ainda que, como então se revelou, as autoridades policiais mesmas não fossem neutras, ou mesmo apolíticas, na aplicação da lei. Mesmo assim, presumia-se que, no geral, a polícia era a instituição social basicamente responsável pela proteção dos indivíduos, e tal norma social e jurídica, longe de servir a qualquer direito à posse de armas, serviu de alicerce às leis restritivas."

De Halbrook, Hitler e o Desarmamento, págs. 49-50.
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"...the Reichstag passed the Law Against Unauthorized Use of Weapons (Gesetz gegen Waffenmiβbrauch), which Reich president Paul von Hindenburg and Interior Minister Wirth signed into law on March 28, 1931. It banned the carrying of a truncheon or stabbing weapon off of one`s premises, exempting police, persons with firearm carry permits, and hunters. It also made it a crime to assemble armed in a public place for political purposes. The police were given unbridled discretion in the issuance of permits and in enforcement of these laws, though as practice revealed, the police authorities themselves were not neutral or even apolitical in their application of the law. Nevertheless, it was generally presumed that the police were the primary social entity responsible for the protection of individual citizens, and this societal and legal norm, rather than any right to bear arms, served as the underpinning for restrictive laws.

From Gun Control in the Third Reich, pgs. 25-26.

Photo: President Hindenburg (1931)
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#guncontrolinthethirdreich #HitlereoDesarmamento #PaulVonHindenburg #JosephWirth #1931 #weimarrepublic ...

"The Lewis and Clark Expedition struck out in 1804 to explore the lands west of the Mississippi that constituted the Louisiana Purchase....What would be a critical instrument of the voyage was a repeating air gun that, while ahead of its time, constituted an `arm` in the meaning of the Second Amendment. The gun would exemplify the use of arms to dissuade potential attackers without ever being used actually to shoot a person.

"Among other preparations, Captain Lewis purchased an air rifle in 1803 while en route to Pittsburgh, where the keelboat was being built. It was a Girandoni air rifle designed in 1779 or 1780 and successfully used by Austrian sharpshooters in the Austro-Turkish War. It had a twenty-two-round magazine, which could be reloaded in seconds. Its pressure flask enabled it to fire up to eighty rounds. The gun had a range of 150 yards, compared to a musket’s range of fifty to a hundred yards.

"A few days into the journey, the expedition stopped at Wheeling, (West) Virginia, where they were visited by Thomas Rodney, a federal judge. Rodney recorded in his diary: `He shewed us his air gun which fired 22 times at one charge…. [W]hen in perfect order she fires 22 times in a minute.`”

From Halbrook, America`s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15, pgs. 123-124.

Photo: Lewis and Clark Air Gun, 1795. National Firearms Museum.
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#lewisandclark #lewisandclarkexpedition #meriwetherlewis #williamclark #corpsofdiscovery #Girandoni #Girandoniairgun #airgun #airgunhistory #muskets #repeatingairgun #famousexplorers #austriansharpshooters #austroturkishwar #austrianmilitary #22roundmag #magazinecapacity #gunmagazine #AmericasRifleTheCaseForTheAR15 #2ahistory #therightofthepeople #righttobeararms#2aprotection #2ndamendmentprotection #nationalfirearmsmuseum ...

Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim is best known for creating the Maxim gun, which was the world`s first automatic machine gun, in 1884. By World War I, both sides were fighting with Maxim’s invention: whether labeled Vickers, MG 08, or M1910, the recoil-operated, water-cooled machine gun traced directly back to Hiram Maxim’s 1884 design.

During his lifetime, Maxim invented many mechanical devices including steam pumps, aircraft artillery, magno-electric machines, and various gas, steam, and oil engines. He invented the first automatic sprinkler system and other helpful items such as mousetraps, eyelet and riveting machines, and hair-curling irons.

Maxim was born 186 years ago today. (February 5, 1840.)

Photo: Hiram Maxim with an early but refined version of his machine gun, c. 1884–1885.
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#maximmachinegun #maximgun #hiramstevensmaxim #hirammaxim #sirhirammaxim #machinegun #machineguns #automaticmachinegun #fullauto #machinegunhistory #recoiloperated #recoiloperatedmachineguns #firearmshistory #nfa #nfagun #engineerinventors #americaninventor #britishinventor #militaryweapons #evolutionofmachineguns #automaticgun #automaticguns #machinist #mechanicalengineer #bornonthisday #bornonthisdate #ww1guns #vickersmachinegun #mg08machinegun #m1910 ...

In the early 1900s, elaborate hats with wide brims were fashionable for women. Hatpins, sometimes as long as 12 inches, were used to secure a large hat to a woman`s hairstyle. Hatpins were also a handy, and effective, tool of self defense. Newspapers around the country reported about women using hatpins to fend off attackers, or in one case, fight each other in a duel. By 1909, hatpins were considered such an international threat, that police chiefs in Germany and France considered laws to regulate their length.

In March 1910, Chicago’s city council debated--and passed--an ordinance that banned hatpins longer than nine inches. Women caught in violation would be arrested and fined $50. One supporter had said that when it came to "wearing swords [women] must be stopped." Nan Davis argued, “If the men of Chicago want to take the hatpins away from us, let them make the streets safe.”

Illustration from The Evening World, May 27, 1903.
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#selfdefense #selfdefensetool #womensweapon #womensweapons #victoriancrime #womensselfdefense #legalweapon #hatpin #hatpins #hatpindefense #victorianhatpin #hatpinweapons #hatpinban #womenshistory #defendyourself #streetattack #dontbeavictim #vintagephotos #1900s #chicagoordinance #1900shat #1900shatpin #1900shatpin #assaultweapon ...