Hi average joe; Re: "At the time Americans were given the right to bear arms the only gun in existence was a squirrel gun.";
During the revolutionary war, Americans owned cannon. More than that, they owned ships filled with them. This was the most powerful military weapon available at the time.
Okay so our rights were "given" after the end of the war. But by the war of 1812 you cannot deny that the 2nd amendment was operating. And at that time Americans again owned warships. Here's a page from the US military:
...
On the other hand he said, pointing to another volunteer, "Ye be a privateer. A privateer be sanctioned by the U.S. government, given a 'letter of marque' which authorizes these good captains, ships and their crews to attack and detain merchant ships who be from the nation at war, in this case Great Britain."
Crawford went on to explain that the 500 to 600 privateers during the War of 1812 were engaged in a very risky financial venture. He said the capital cost required to buy a ship, outfit it with guns, hire a crew and buy provisions was no small expense. The chance then of finding enemy merchant ships to take as a prize was not an easy prospect.
"Once captured the privateer was obligated to bring the ship into port and present the ships cargo, and the captain and crew to an admiralty court for disposition of the seized goods. There were court costs and other bureaucratic expenses that had to be paid before the privateer would see any return on investment," he added.
Crawford concluded a privateer or his sponsor could end up with nothing.
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navy.mil
The city of Baltimore, Md., was a major center of privateering during the War of 1812. Its example illustrates the contributions of the private armed ship to the war effort. Within a month of the declaration of war, 15 Baltimore privateers had received letters of marque. By the end of the war in 1815, Baltimoreans had dispatched some 122 privateers and letter-of-marque traders. Just under fifty of the Baltimore armed ships of war were privateers and the balance were letter-of-marque traders.
Congress authorized privateering in order to war against the enemy's commerce. That citizens could profit from preying on British commerce while contributing to the war effort only made privateering that much more attractive. Baltimoreans were proud of the contribution their privateers made to the war effort. Baltimore's commissioned vessels took more than five hundred British merchant ships, sent in some 1,600 prisoners, and cost British merchants millions of dollars. Privateers forced the British to use naval vessels to convoy merchantmen, and persuaded them to devote naval assets to blockade the Chesapeake and to assign warships to protection of ports and islands.
msc.navy.mil
-- Carl |
