Mural in U.S. Capitol Shows Wide Acceptance of Open Carry in 1862

AmmoLand ^ | August 4, 2022 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

In the recent Supreme Court decision of NYSR&PA v. Bruen, the court ruled the proper way to determine restraints on the exercise of Second Amendment rights was to review history and see if restraints on those rights had been widely accepted across the American polities, especially at the time of the ratification of the Second Amendment in 1791 and the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, as the Second Amendment has been applied to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment.

The right to bear (carry) arms for the protection of self and others has long been a part of American culture. The right to do so while traveling was especially elevated. Even an early colonial regulation in East New Jersey, which attempted to limit the right to bear arms, had exemptions for people who were traveling before the regulation was eliminated. The regulation was only tolerated for a few years.  P. 6 of amicus curiae briefs on Bruen. 

In 1686, East New Jersey enacted a law providing that no person “shall presume privately to wear any pocket pistol, skeines, stilettoes, daggers or dirks, or other unusual or unlawful weapons,” and that “no planter shall ride or go armed with sword, pistol or dagger” except certain officials and “strangers, travelling upon their lawful occasions through this Province, behaving themselves peaceably.”3

The Supreme Court has declared the attitude about carrying arms, close to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, as especially important. A famous mural, painted in the United States Capitol in 1863, is relevant.

The mural is “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, by Emanuel Leutze”, and is located in the West grand staircase of the House wing. It is 30 feet wide and 20 feet tall.

[marktwain]

The Supreme Court has said historical acceptance of arms is the standard for whether laws restricting carry can be Constitutional.

This mural in the Capitol is something representatives see every day.

[Jim Noble]

I’m not sure 1862 is the perfect example of public gun handling in the US.

There was a lot of shooting going on that year.

[marktwain]

Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, by Emanuel Leutze.

At least 12 firearms in the mural.

[House Atreides]

Well, when Froggy went a courtin’ he didn’t go unarmed. He had a sword and a pistol by his side.

[ought-six]

“I’m not sure 1862 is the perfect example of public gun handling in the US. There was a lot of shooting going on that year.”

And aside from the Civil War, there was that “trouble” in southern Minnesota that started 160 years ago this month. I bet the victims wish they would have had more guns...or ANY gun.

[ought-six]

“He had a sword and a pistol by his side.”

And the bastards hung him in the Spring of ‘25.

[FLT-bird]

The difference was in the 19th century they thought concealed carry underhanded....as in why would a person carry concealed? Are they intending to do something nefarious?

Whereas now a lot of people freak out about open carry but think concealed carry is fine.

Carrying though was very common - and no, not just on the frontier. I remember a story about how in the mid 19th century a bunch of reporters were interviewing a congressman and there was a sudden loud noise which sounded like a gunshot. Within a second everybody had drawn their guns - including the congressman. Imagine that today.

[marktwain]

I recall a cartoon with several passengers having pistols on a 20th century mass transit, maybe New York.

Perhaps someone can find it.

[Nifster]

Almost as bad as a weekend in Chicago

[Big Red Badger]

I think;
Lewis and Clark when seeing
This,
Of course there is No
‘Little Pomp’ Or his Mother
Sacagawea.

[Red in Blue PA]

Dispelling the myth of the “wild west”

In his book, Frontier Violence: Another Look, author W. Eugene Hollon, provides us with these astonishing facts:
•In Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City, and Caldwell, for the years from 1870 to 1885, there were only 45 total homicides. This equates to a rate of approximately 1 murder per 100,000 residents per year.
•In Abilene, supposedly one of the wildest of the cow towns, not a single person was killed in 1869 or 1870.

Zooming forward over a century to 2007, a quick look at Uniform Crime Report statistics shows us the following regarding the aforementioned gun control “paradise” cities of the east:

•DC – 183 Murders (31 per 100,000 residents)
•
Baltimore – 281 Murders (45 per 100,000 residents)
•
Newark – 104 Murders (37 per 100,000 residents)

It doesn’t take an advanced degree in statistics to see that a return to “wild west” levels of violent crime would be a huge improvement for the residents of these cities.

The truth of the matter is that the “wild west” wasn’t wild at all … not compared to a Saturday night in Newark.