The All-American Gun


Armed America: The Remarkable Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie, By Clayton Cramer, Nelson, 320 pages, $26.99

Did you know that in New York City, through 1969 virtually all the public high schools had riflery teams?


Gun laws have certainly changed over time.

Today towns such as Kennesaw, Ga., Greenfeld, Idaho and Geuda Springs, Kan., which all require residents to own guns, are considered the oddity. But Clayton Cramer’s terrific new book, “Armed America,” shows that, in fact, gun ownership has been deeply woven into this country’s history since the colonial period.




In some states such as Maryland, fines were paid directly to inspectors so that authorities had a strong incentive to check. The only people exempt from these rules were Quakers, some indentured servants, or, in the South, blacks.


At least six colonies required people have guns with them at church. Church officials were required to check parishioners when they arrived for services to ensure they had a gun. Clergymen were required to have guns, too. Contrast that with the political firestorms that erupt these days when states merely let churches decide whether concealed handgun permit holders can carry guns on church property.

In our day, only about 45 percent of households own a gun, whereas gun ownership in colonial America was much higher, as measured by probate records. Guns were bequeathed to the next generation in about 70 percent of cases.


This article was originally published Sunday, March 11, 2007, in the New York Post.