Firearms that caused the greatest political change.

[Sgt 1371]

Which firearm in history influenced the politics of this country, or the world the most? Browning 1900 used to assassinate the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, sparking WWI? Perhaps the Carcano 91/38 Rifle used to assassinate JFK? Brown Bess, the AK-47...???

 

[spitfire51]

Well, I believe that the end result of World War I ended up causing World War II, the end result of which led to the Cold War, so I think you could make a strong case for the gun that killed Archduke Ferdinand.

 

[INGunGuy]

How about the Musket used during the Revolutionary war, without the musket we would probably not be on the internet debating weapons that shaped politics...

INGunGuy

 

[M67]

Perhaps the Carcano 91/38 Rifle used to assassinate JFK

Yeah, that led to the use of serial numbers on firearms if I recall right.

Then again, the .44 Derringer that Booth used to shoot Lincoln definitely had an affect on politics.

The .22 Iver Johnson that Sirhan Sirhan used on RFK...

Or how about the shotgun? In WWI the Germans wanted it to be a war crime if shotguns were used, although they had no problem with mustard gas (credited to the History Channel)

Or the Glock used by what's his name in Arizona. As soon as that happened many though high capacity mags were going to be banned again.



I got the winner. The Barrett 50BMG. So awesome, California made them illegal.

 

[Vlad the Impaler]

Thompson sub gun
&
National Firearms Act

I can't imagine there is any more political significance and loss of rights tied up in any other weapon. Your rights got trampled rapidly in 1934 and have been slowly erroding since.

 

[Sylvain]

It's hard to say.
I dont know about "greatest political change" but im thinking about the PPK that Hitler used to kill himself.That's quite an important firearm in history but maybe not that important since it was the end of the third Reich anyway.
Every firearms used in any wars where important and made some political changes.

 

[OZZY.40]

What about the revolver used by Hinckley to try to kill Reagan, which lead to the "Brady Bill". That law makes a lot of sense(LOL), ban FA rifles to prevent revolvers from being used.