Gail Collins gets a history lesson on the Founding Fathers and gun manufacturing

Greg P. | 3:19 PM on February 25, 2021

Gail Collins has a new piece out on gun control and the pandemic and it is every bit a nutty as you might imagine:

You may be wondering how we’re doing on gun control.

Joe Biden promised to tackle it on “my first day in office,” which he didn’t. You can appreciate that he’s rather distracted. But absolutely no reason we shouldn’t start to nag.https://t.co/SaHJ2kQtLJ

— Gail Collins (@gailcollins) February 25, 2021

“LOL this headline”:

LOL this headline pic.twitter.com/Agw6zVMJ3O

— Rob Romano (@2Aupdates) February 25, 2021

Now, usually, we’d just ignore something like this but this section where she said the Founding Fathers wouldn’t be OK with 3D printers to manufacture guns caught our eye. Did she skip like every class on the Revolution?

I'm not sure if @gailcollins is familiar with this fact, but the founding fathers relied on underground, decentralized manufacture of small arms during and after the Revolution.

They would have shelves full of Ender 3s cranking it guns all day long.https://t.co/5P1yYVLDN3 pic.twitter.com/PIqOhMCmF6

— Ivan al-Nohandi, PhD (@Ivan_Is_Back) February 25, 2021

“So good try, but history is clear on this”:

They illegal smuggled in barrels and lockplates from France when they could, melted down tools when they couldn't, and armed a serious fighting force with guns they made (without any governmental permission slips from the Crown).

So good try, but history is clear on this.

— Ivan al-Nohandi, PhD (@Ivan_Is_Back) February 25, 2021

Americans have been legally manufacturing their own firearms since before the founding. We didn't even have a federal manufacturing license for commercial gun makers (outside of NFA items) until 1938. So, yea, this line was particularly absurd. https://t.co/TUEriUFejL

— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) February 25, 2021

“So, yea, this line was particularly absurd” — just like most NYT takes on guns.

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