Gun Control Advocates Turn Their Sights On Regulating Muskets?

It's always interesting when gun control activists and the media discover something about the firearms world that gun enthusiasts have known for decades.  It shows that the people desperately clamoring to erase the 2nd Amendment often know nothing about the weapons they want to regulate. 

The act of "gun control" has nothing to do with understanding firearms, their basic capabilities and what it means to have these tools in civilian hands.  It is far more abstract. 

For example, in the mind of a leftist (because the vast majority of leftists do not own guns nor have they ever handled one), an AR-15 is a terrifying weapon of war.  They imagine a fully automatic death machine with endless ammo tearing through crowds of people.  However, for a knowledgeable gun enthusiast, a scoped and tuned bolt action rifle chambered in a magnum cartridge and capable of shooting accurately out to 1000 yards or more might be considered far more deadly in the right hands. 

Knowledge of guns changes the nature of guns.  For leftists, who know nothing, every gun no matter how archaic is considered a threat. 

For decades it has been well known in the gun community that black powder muskets are legal to buy without a background check, and can be easily purchased online.  These devices are not considered "firearms" under federal law and thus, are not regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).  It would seem that the establishment media has just discovered this fact they are very concerned.   

A musket from 1776 can fire a lead ball at a velocity of around 1,000 feet per second.

Imagine what that can do to a human body. Yet under federal and most state laws, it’s exempt from gun regulations. Many antique or replica guns aren’t considered firearms and even convicted… pic.twitter.com/RBT5ihazdA

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 14, 2026

The Associated Press published an article this week expounding on this profound revelation, and they are shocked that there are not more restrictions in place to track and control the spread of deadly muskets among the youth gangs of urban Chicago.  When is the ATF going to step in and get flintlocks out of black neighborhoods?    

Okay, maybe they never mentioned gangs, or Chicago, or black neighborhoods, which is telling.  As the AP notes:

"With 165 grains of black powder in the barrel, a .75-caliber Brown Bess flintlock musket like the ones the redcoats carried in 1776 can hurl a lead ball at a velocity of around 1,000 feet (305 meters) per second.  Imagine what that can do to a human body. Now, imagine that it’s almost completely exempt from gun regulations. 

How can that be? Well, under federal and most state laws, many antique or replica guns aren’t technically considered firearms. In most places, even convicted felons can own them..."

The AP then goes on to list the states trying to "close the loophole" on easy musket access.  Like all gun control articles the focus is on the gun rather than the criminals.  They never mention the primary source of gun crime.

The vast majority of all gun violence per capita occurs in urban areas, and largely in minority neighborhoods.  Around 50%-60% of all gun crime victims are black.  Around 50% of all gun crime suspects are black, despite black Americans representing only 13% of the US population.  And, the vast majority of these crimes are committed with handguns, not AR-15s and certainly not muskets.

In fact, there is less than a dozen recorded instances of gun violence in the US involving a black powder rifle or pistol in the past 20 years, despite how easy it is for anyone to buy these weapons without a background check.  It is fascinating that the establishment media continues to focus on the minutia of the gun crime problem when the real answer is right in front of their faces. 

Where are the news stories about high crime rates in minority areas and Democrat run cities?  Such headlines are rare, and there's a good reason for that.

Gun control is not about the safety of innocent Americans, it is about disarming innocent Americans.  It is actually more beneficial for the political left and the anti-gun lobby if high crime rates continue in black neighborhoods.  It's better for them if the problem is never solved, because then they can use those scary stats as a rationale to continue their efforts to lock in more firearms restrictions. 

Furthermore, articles like the one from the AP prove 2nd Amendment activists correct once again - If you give an inch, leftists will take a mile, so never give an inch.  Their goal is the eradication of all firearms, anything remotely useful for self defense, in civilian hands.  Their goal is for governments to maintain a monopoly on force, because all other laws and social changes stem from the monopoly of force.

The typical Fudd (gun owners who actually promote greater restrictions) will argue that you have no need for an AR-15 and that once these weapons are banned, the gun control lobby will go away.  But these people want to legislate single shot muskets.  They are never going away.       

Proof of this resides in the UK, where there are calls for kitchen knives to be restricted. 

Actor Idris Elba has an idea how to stop knife attacks in the UK.

You're gonna want to hear this one. pic.twitter.com/4bNeenGBrp

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) May 11, 2026

These people will not stop until you are utterly defenseless.  They will ignore all the important factors which make gun violence worse in the US.  They will refuse to put a spotlight on the people primarily committing the violence and focus on firearms as the threat.  And, when they are done with scary rifles like the AR-15 and the AK-47 they will move on to everything else.  Right down to black powder muskets used in the American Revolution, and maybe the knives you use for eating your dinner.