I do believe it is standard that all American soldiers are trained on an AR-15, which I thought was an AK-47. However, I soon learned that the AK-47 is yesterday’s history. But, I got to play with both rifles in my story Mirrored Reflections, when Chad and the boys go to save Sierra from her pimp. Axel even got to blow up a jet with his AR, which was a stretch. However, if a bullet is placed exactly right, it could happen. And Axel could do that blindfolded, and he did blow up this pimp’s beautiful sleek, black, private jet.
Actually, writing that scene was fun, but dealing with weapons made me realize that no AR-15 or AK-47 ever killed anyone. Like all other ‘weapons’, they cannot kill anything. It’s the person holding that weapon that kills.
That made me think (which is scary). You see the first weapon ever used to harm someone was when Cain who lifted a stone and bashed Able upside the head…and killed him. Then along comes boredom. With a sling (made of sinew or hide) in the hand of shepherds, who, while watching stock/sheep, flung stones at targets. And they got pretty darn good at hitting bullseye. Then, along comes an unfortunate lion that stalks a lamb and WHAM.. the projectile/stone kills the lion. Thus, the toy now sling becomes the weapon of choice in the hands of David who kills Goliath with this same projectile/stone — right upside Goliath’s head…and kills him just like that lion.
Slingers like David quickly became a serious problem in battles. The enemy did not like this new weapon. It complicated the hand-to-hand combat when many warriors desperately wanted to show off to their gods. Show just how tough they were. For example, Celtic warriors wanted to impress Odin by being such outstanding warriors that Odin would send a Valkyrie to pluck their dead bodies from the field, whisk them off to Valhalla so that each day they got to kill each other in practice for Ragnarök. They would then come back to life just in time to party all night on ale and dine on the daily pork that magically grew back each day. Warriors did not want to just die in bed. Oh no.
The sword is just an overgrown knife really. A knife in the wrong hand, can do some serious damage. Don’t believe me, watch or read the evening news. The lance is a longer knife somewhat like a poker with a sharp point. Julius Caesar perfected this weapon by designing the pilium, a long narrow, metal-necked lance with a hooked spearpoint. Upon impact, this pilium would stick into the enemy’s body or shield and bend. Thus, making the weapon unusable and awkward so that the shield or body would then have to be tossed aside. Then, the bent pilium could be straightened for the next battle.
Along came a new and even more dangerous weapon. (I’m not sure which came first…the lance or the arrow.) But projecting this short lance — otherwise known as an arrow — actually became more deadly than a stone. In the movie 300, there was a threat to block out the sun with the number of arrows. The Spartans only laughed, (which is why I love Spartans.) That many arrows shot at one time could darken any day. Eventually, the medieval archers became more deadly than the soldiers.
Then, China invented black explosive powder for their fireworks to scare off evil spirits. This black powder led to the musket, which was invented in Europe by Gaspard Kollner, in 1498. And, of course, was brought to North America. You can see how that invention was used in Last of the Mohicans. It was an art to keep firing: three rifles, a loader behind the shooter who keeps firing at the enemy by switching rifles.
Rifles only got better. From the American Revolution to the Battle of Saratoga, and all the way up to the Civil war, they were improved and redesigned. Mr. Samuel Colt (1837) improved the repeating/revolving bullets in rifles and ultimately the handgun — the Colt Paterson pistol.
During the Civil War, Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling in 1861, designed a weapon that would make short order of a battle and save the men on his side. Thus, the Gatling gun. Which I believe led to the wonderful tommy gun made popular in Mafia movies as in the Untouchables.
This Thompson gun was an air-cooled, magazine-fed, selective-fire submachine gun., invented by US Army General John T. Thompson, 1918, designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare WWI.
Then, Russia invented the gas-powered AK-47 (Mikhail Kalashnikov) The 47 refers to the year it was designed. 1947. AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova/automatic rifle. This design continued into the astounding weapon called the AR-15 used by armies everywhere. Armel-Lite developed the first design of the semiautomatic and then sold it to Colt in 1959. And I haven’t even touched the tip of this iceberg’s history all the way up to nuclear weapons.
But not one of these weapons ever killed anyone. That totally depends on who uses it. This person will determine if it feeds a family or harms someone or thing. I repeat…I’ve learned that, in the hand of the other person, any object can kill. Even a pencil.
#Mirrored Reflections
#JF Ridgley
#AR 15
#AK 47
#History of Weapons
#Murder
#Hunting
#Civil unrest
#War and warriors
#Civil war
#Revolutionary war
#Ancient Rome
#Julius Caesar
#Colt
#Russian weapons
#NRA national rifle association
#USCCA
#Hunting and shooting
#American Military
