Thursday, November 18, 2010

You're Kidding - it's Really a Gun?

How many nicknames do you know for firearms?  Beyond 'Saturday Night Special' I got nothing.  Here's a story for you.  It all started with Christian Sharp, who patented a .50 caliber hunting rifle in 1848.  (Nope, his name has nothing to do with the phrase 'sharp-shooter').  Enter Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, (1813-1877) an abolitionist and not your Ghandhi type of activist.  He stated outright that, in fighting slavery, Kansans wielding rifles would be more effective than those wielding arguments from the Bible. He was not fooling around. The Reverend used the money he raised to buy Bibles ... to send rifles to Kansas. Hence the term "Beecher's Bibles", occasionally used to refer to Sharps' rifles. You've been desperate to know, right?  Glad I could clear that up for you.

I Hear America Talking p. 92

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