Old West: Mountain Men and Their Weapons

The Mountain Men of the Old West have lived on in legends written in books and depicted on film, and honored by reenactments in modern-day Rendezvous. Behind the legends and myths there is real history. One of the best books written about the American West and the Mountain Men is – Virgin Land: The American West As Symbol and Myth by Henry Nash Smith; Harvard College, 1950. E-Text of the books is available at the University of Virginia website, part of the American Studies created by Emily Zimmerman. 

Firearm History: Kentucky Long Rifle

Back in 1776, American colonial patriots were an unlikely bunch to be taking on the greatest military might of that period in history. They were men (and a few women) who came from all walks of life: tradesmen, farmers, plantation owners, mixed in with some veterans of the French and Indian War and French volunteers who came across the sea to help win the revolution. Backwoods colonials were among them from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the Carolinas with their long Kentucky rifles. While the colonial military leadership and their tactics decided the outcome, the patriots played a substantial role with a few thousand militiamen against seasoned British troops that outnumbered them as they arrived by ship to quell the rebellion.

Kentucky Rifle and AR-15: The Patriot's Weapon of Choice

...For well over a half-century, the nation's liberals and progressives … have waged war on traditions, customs and moral values. ...there are no moral absolutes, to our young people. To them, what's moral or immoral is a matter of convenience, personal opinion, or a consensus. … Customs, traditions, moral values and rules of etiquette, not laws and government regulations, are what make for a civilized society. … The importance of customs, traditions and moral values as a means of regulating behavior is that people behave themselves even if nobody's watching. Police and laws can never replace these restraints on personal conduct so as to produce a civilized society.
Walter E. Williams

In recent history there has been a constant assault upon the Second Amendment and the unalienable and natural right for law abiding citizens to protect themselves against predators that prey upon society, especially when they know the victims are unarmed and unable to fight back.

Despite the US Supreme Court finally agreeing and decreeing that the Second Amendment means what the short paragraph says.