Happy 155th Birthday, John Moses Browning!
This is also the 101st anniversary of the Tottenham Outrage, which I posted about last year.
Given the fact that 2009 was a record-breaker for firearm sales in the United States (thanks Barry!), I’d say we’re safe for at least a few more years from America following (formerly) Great Britain down the civilian disarmament path. And while Tam extolls JMB’s classic M2 heavy machine-gun design, I have to give the nod to his timeless 1911 – a gun built by more manufacturers today than even the ubiquitous AK-47.
Someday that tank commander may have a pintle-mounted cyan-spewing 2-cm. tribarreled plasma cannon, but people will still be shooting Pepper Poppers with 1911s chambered in G_d’s own .45ACP.
(Edited to change the JMB’s age. He was born in 1855, not 1845. Thanks Chris.)