Guns can be a fun and interesting topic, as well as a premier method of self-defense, hunting, and pleasure shooting. Learning all you can about guns, gun safety, and shooting is important. But did you know guns have a long and somewhat unique place in our country and world history? Relax and enjoy these 20 fun facts about guns.
- The U.S. leads the world in firearms possession. Research indicates there are more guns in private ownership than there are people to own them—about 1.2 guns for every single person, or roughly 120.5 firearms per 100 U.S. citizens.
- In 2020 alone, the FBI reports that Americans collectively bought more than 21 million firearms; in 2021, they bought a further estimated 19 million.
- Americans purchased more firearms in 2020 and 2021 than at any point in the nation’s history
- Although America only accounts for 5% of the global populace, it owns almost 45% of worldwide firearms.
- Daisy Outdoor Products sold windmills and gave a complementary BB gun with every purchase. The BB guns became so popular that they stopped selling windmills and started selling BB guns.
- Riflemen in 1776 used flintlock muskets to fire roughly three shots per minuteduring the American Revolution.
- Firearm evolution dates back to 1364 with what was initially branded a “hand cannon.”These were gunpowder and wick-fueled arms.
- The revolver was first created by Samuel Colt when he was 16 years old.
- At one time in history, the crosshairs in precision rifle optics were made from the silk from female black widow spiders. This silk is said to be as strong as Kevlar fibers.
- Have you ever noticed that the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz carried a gun for protection?
- President James A. Garfield’s assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, chose an ivory-handled gun over a similar wooden-handled model because he knew it would look better in a museum exhibit.
- A gun can fire in space because gunpowder contains its own oxidizer.
- Beretta is the oldest gun company in the world is established 1526 in Brescia, Italy.
- The Dalai Lama once said, “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
- The American gangster John Dillinger escaped from jail with a wooden pistol. After whittling it in his cell, in March 1934 he used the fake weapon to intimidate 33 people before getting a real machine gun.
- John Moses Browning not only designed the M1911 handgun, but also the M2 50 caliber machine gun, the BAR automatic rifle, the 1887 lever action shotgun, the Auto 5 semi-auto shotgun, the Winchester 1894 lever action rifle
- In an early Batman comic, he used guns to kill criminals.
- Over the past 50 years, gun owners are responsible for over $2 billion in wildlife conservation in the United States by means of a tax on guns and ammo.
- World War II OSS Director William “Wild Bill” Donovan once demonstrated a newly invented gun silencer to president Franklin D. Roosevelt by shooting 10 rounds at a sandbag in the oval office. He then turned and told an astonished Roosevelt what he had done and handed him the smoking gun.
- The world’s smallest, fully functioning gun (Swiss Mini-Gun C1ST) can fit in the palm of your hand.
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