HALIFAX, N.C. (AP) 鈥� 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鈥檚 almost completely exempt from
How can that be? Well, under federal and most state laws, many antique or replica guns aren鈥檛 technically considered firearms. In most places, even convicted felons can own them.
鈥淚 suspect the average judge would be surprised to find that out,鈥� says Second Amendment scholar and gun-rights attorney Dave Hardy, himself the proud owner of two Civil War-era long guns.
During a National Rifle Association event back in 2000, the late actor Charlton Heston famously hoisted a flintlock 鈥� the single-shot weapon that won the Revolution and was still in wide use a half century after Congress debated the Second Amendment 鈥� into the air and said the Democrats would have to take it 鈥渇rom my cold, dead hands.鈥�
He needn鈥檛 have worried.
A blast from the past
During debate over the Gun Control Act of 1968, Sen. John Goodwin Tower argued that flintlocks and many other antique or replica guns should be exempt from regulation.
The Texas Republican said it was needed 鈥渢o relieve an unnecessarily burdensome problem for serious collectors of antique firearms and for historians and museums.鈥� Treating all weapons the same, he argued, would unfairly target collector items 鈥渨hich have little, if any, practical use as a firearm in the modern connotation.鈥�
The defines an antique as any weapon 鈥渨ith a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system鈥� manufactured 鈥渋n or before 1898鈥� 鈥� as long as it hasn’t been modified to fire modern ammunition. This generally means muzzleloaders that use black powder or a black powder substitute, though some early cartridge guns are included.
You can even own and fire a cannon.
Don’t go off half cocked
Most states have adopted that language either verbatim or by direct reference to the federal provision. But, as military historian Patrick Luther says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 a patchwork.鈥�
鈥淚 live in NY (New York) and bought a civil war musket,鈥� Luther, a Marine veteran with the website milsurpia.com, said in an email. 鈥淚t was very similar to buying a regular firearm. Buying the blackpowder for the rifle felt not much different than buying a T-shirt.鈥�
At least three states 鈥� Hawaii, Ohio and North Dakota 鈥� treat a smoothbore musket the same as an AK-47 or AR-15. Reenactor Jason Monhollen, an officer in the U.S. Army, says that鈥檚 鈥渃omparing apples and oranges.鈥�
鈥淚t seems silly to put restriction on something that would be such a terrible weapon if you wanted to, you know, kill people,鈥� says Monhollen, who portrays a private and carries a French Charleville musket in the 2nd North Carolina Regiment. 鈥淭here鈥檚 just much better things. You can kill more people quickly with a car than you can with a musket.鈥�
But these weapons are still deadly.
Not just a toy
Maryland changed its law after a convicted sex offender killed his ex-girlfriend with a six-shot, .44-caliber cap and ball revolver purchased on the internet.
鈥淚t may have loaded like an 1851 weapon, but it fired like a 2017 manufactured modern handgun that was capable of lethal force,鈥� Montgomery County State鈥檚 Attorney John McCarthy told reporters at the time.
Shad茅’s Law, passed in 2019, now prohibits people convicted of certain violent crimes from buying or possessing such weapons. But many states allow convicted felons to have these weapons; West Virginia makes an exception for people under an active protective order.
Some states鈥� laws are confusing or vague.
Montana law mentions 鈥渁ntique or replica arms鈥� in a code regulating firearms and ammunition manufactured in the state. But nowhere in the code are those weapons defined.
Wisconsin uses the federal definition, but the only reference comes in a law regarding 鈥渓ook-alike鈥� firearms.
And, of course, many local ordinances, like the one in Wake County, North Carolina, prohibit the firing of any 鈥渂arreled weapon capable of discharging projectiles.鈥� In many jurisdictions, it鈥檚 illegal to brandish even a toy gun at someone.
鈥淔ederal law does not exclude antique firearms from location-based restrictions,鈥� Austin Gunderson, counsel for the North Dakota Legislative Council, said in an email.
Stray bullets
Sometimes, attempts to strengthen gun laws have had unintended consequences.
The attorney general of New Jersey, one of the 13 original states, recently had to offer guidance when a new law targeting seemed to require all firearms 鈥� including antiques and even air guns 鈥� to have serial numbers.
When New York in 2022, it required background checks for transfers and purchases of antique guns, and barred firearms of any kind from certain 鈥渟ensitive places鈥� like parks and museum sites 鈥� just the kinds of places reenactors appear most.
An exemption was later carved out for people 鈥渓awfully engaged in historical reenactments, educational programming involving historical weapons of warfare, or motion picture or theatrical productions.鈥� But that hasn鈥檛 stopped out-of-state reenactors from worrying their muskets will be confiscated at the George Washington Bridge, says Justin Costantino, adjutant of the Long Island Companies of the 3rd New York Regiment.
鈥淚f the New York State Police department wants to charge me with weapons possession while I鈥檓 wearing a cocked hat and carrying around a Charleville 鈥�66,鈥� says Costantino, a graduate student in history, 鈥渢hen please, don鈥檛 call my lawyer. Call the New York Post!鈥�
Then again, Costantino hates to hear a mother at a reenactment tell her child, 鈥淥h, no. Don鈥檛 worry, sweetie. It鈥檚 not real.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 not really loaded, but it is really a weapon,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really gunpowder. And if you stand close to it, you鈥檒l feel the kind of breath of hot air … They鈥檙e still things that we have to take very seriously, and you have to be safe with.鈥�
___
AP Writer Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.
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