Dumbest Take Ever: Muskets Too Deadly for Gun Grabbers Now?

Those of us who support the rights of Americans to keep and bear arms, as confirmed in the Second Amendment, are used to seeing some pretty dumb takes from the other side. One of the dumbest in recent history, the 1994 "assault weapons" ban, even put bayonet lugs on the list of proscribed features, because, presumably, of all the massed bayonet attacks carried out by criminal gangs.

But now and then, something comes along that sets a new low for even the dumbest of dumb takes; this time, it's a video from the Associated Press, clutching pearls about how black-powder guns, like those used in the Revolutionary War, aren't regulated like modern guns.

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 post reads:

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 felons can own them.

Yes, because they are pretty useless to criminals.

Here's the audio:

Ashley Hlebinsky, Firearms Historian: I think people would be kind of interested to know that when you look at the firearms with the revolution, flintlock musket or the flintlock rifles… that they are actually technically, in terms of legal standards and the federal government, not legally a firearm. They’re classified as an antique. It is actually not nearly as heavily regulated as a modern firearm. And what I mean by that is that today, you don’t necessarily need a background check for it in most states. It was created to essentially not burden historians, collectors, museums, and other law-abiding gun owners from collecting these significant pieces of history.
Continuing voiceover: It seems silly to put restrictions on something that would be such a terrible weapon if you wanted to kill people. You can kill more people quickly with a car than you can with a musket.
Jason Monhollen, 2nd North Carolina Regt. Regulating a weapon like this is regulating life and death, right? Whoever holds this holds that power.

These weapons, yes, can be dangerous. Yes, they should be handled with precisely the same care and attention as when handling a modern firearm. But for the luvva Pete, there's are good reasons they aren't regulated like modern firearms.

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Gun grabbers will likely pounce on this, claiming that these antiques should be regulated. That would be one of the biggest wastes of effort that the anti-gun lobby, famous for wasting effort, has ever attempted. Their firearms don't work like modern guns. The muskets referred to here are not only long, heavy, and cumbersome - not something a gang-banger can hide in his baggy pants - but even the most practiced handler can manage a rate of fire of no more than three or four shots a minute. There are black-powder revolvers that can fire six shots as quickly as a modern revolver, but then each of the six chambers has to be reloaded, with a measure of powder, a lead ball that has to be rammed home, and a separate percussion cap for priming.

These guns are not even remotely suited for criminal use. Add to that the fact that even some cartridge firearms over 50 years old are designated as "Curios & Relics," and can be shipped directly to a licensed collector with no background check and no added paperwork; that's because the licensed collector has already had a background check.

The AP may well be trying to strike up concern among the non-firearms-familiar with this kind of commentary. But, until criminals start forming ranks, fixing bayonets, and firing a volley before charging innocent citizens, we shouldn't worry too much about how we regulate flintlock muskets.

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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