Weapons are instruments used for the sole purpose of causing damage or harm to a person, structure or animal. A weapon is used in hunting, self-defense, or defense in combat. A weapon could also be used for recreational use and firing. If someone is said to be armed, that simply means they are carrying a weapon of some sort. Using a weapon dates back to the prehistoric times when they were used by chimpanzees. Although this was simple weaponry and would not leave a huge impact, they still included spears, unshaped stones, and clubs.

The weapon began to evolve even further during the copper and iron ages. This allowed craftsman to construct more solid and reliable forms of weaponry. This type of weapon would often be used in arena fighting along with horse draw carriages like we see in many of the movies today. The middle ages brought even more evolution to the weapon and incorporated new materials for the weapon to be made out of. Knights commonly used swords, pikes, spears, and bows to defeat their opponent during times of battles and war. Slowly but surely the introduction of gun powder then came from the far Middle East helped develop some of the more modern forms of weaponry. Muskets and canons became very popular because of this introduction, but it seemed the process to prepare these pieces of weaponry for battle was more tedious than they were worth.

Once the European renaissance reigned in more forms of guns and other weaponry swept the nation. More advanced firearms began being used in battles because they used a combustible propellant, like gun powder, to create a bigger bang for much less effort. This is the time where rockets and guns began being introduced to the battlefield. From the modern weaponry in World War I and II to today, the weapon has advanced more than we have ever seen. This evolution brought along automatic, nuclear, chemical, and remote weaponry to be used on the battle field and on testing sites. A weapon can literally be anything that can cause harm to a person, animal or target structure. This could include a gun, knife, rock, pick axe, ice pick, screwdriver, and even a fork! However, most kitchen utensils are only used as a weapon in time of crises or panic. Carrying a weapon for protection has become increasingly popular in the world today which is no surprise with all the crime going on.