Posted on 02/08/2008 6:05:40 PM PST by neverdem
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| Gun Ownership Has Long History in America | |
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Washington, DC 07 February 2008
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National Firearms Museum / Broadband - Download (WM)
National Firearms Museum / Broadband
- Watch (WM)
National Firearms Museum / Dialup - Download (WM)
National Firearms Museum / Dialup
- Watch (WM)
Forty kilometers west of Washington - in the southeastern U.S. state of Virginia - sits the headquarters of the National Rifle Association, or NRA. It is a non-profit research and advocacy group dedicated to promoting the interests of America's gun owners. Collecting and preserving firearms - and keeping track of significant events in the history of their development - are considered essential components of the NRA's mission. So the organization has established the National Firearms Museum. As VOA's George Dwyer reports, the objects on display there tell the story of America from a powerful and distinctive perspective. Jim Bertel narrates.
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| Doug Wicklund is senior curator at the National Firearms Museum |
"What we do in the National Firearms Museum is basically to tell the story of Americans and their guns," says Doug Wicklund, who is Senior Curator at the museum, and an expert on the design technology, industrial production, and cultural history of guns.
"You could say that the museum is in some ways a library [and] the guns are [like] books," Wicklund said. "We are basically showing what the American firearm represents in our society. We are showing how they are used in hunting and competitive shooting; for folks that do a little bit of collecting, we are showing antique pieces that date back centuries as well as modern guns that that can be used in the national matches or in the Olympics."
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| Masterful ornamentation, known as gunsmithing |
"When you look at a firearm you are seeing an artifact that is very, very well designed," Wicklund said.
The gunsmith's art once included the production of miniaturized guns, some mere centimeters in length.
"The miniatures that we have today are truly marvels of craftsmanship and they are also historical reminders of that past time when, in order to become a gunsmith you had to make a miniature," he added.
Mounted in their glass display cases, these weapons do not threaten - in fact they can even inspire.
THANK GOD for the NRA...the OLDEST, and FAR and AWAY the LARGEST Civil Rights organization in planetary history...and one focused exclusively on our precious 2nd Amendment!
http://www.horstheld.com/default.htm
Antique Handguns Horst Held
interested in collectible small arms: derringer,
pistol, revolver, engraved, cased,
odd system, early self-loading = semi-automatic,
Great gun porn!
In a past issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine, one of their correspondents poo-pooed the existence of museums such as this one as downright neandethal. Apparently, the clown was never a gun owner; not too many neanderthals could create the fine weaponry on display. The beauty and craftsmanship expressed in many of the firearms are amazing, especially considering how basic the tools.
If you are a shooting sports enthusiast or, in general, a gun owner, this museum is worth a visit. Don’t forget to bring your NRA card for a nominal discount in the museum shop.
Go wash out your mouth with soap.
Hate to break this to you, but, unless they’ve changed quite recently, the NRA is too busy COMPROMISING AWAY the Second Amendment to be protecting it. They are always cooking up deals to make the gun-grabbers SEEM less onerous... but never once have they cooked up a deal that would have actually MADE the gun-grabbers back off. If you put your faith in the NRA, and you actually own firearms, you might as well take your guns to your local PD and turn them in to avoid the rush. Now if you want to KEEP your firearms and see victim disarmament laws ROLLED BACK, try JPFO at http://www.jpfo.org or the Second Amendment Sisters or Gun Owners of America or a similar grass roots organization that is actually FIGHTING for the second amendment, not compromising it away!
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