Riley Bowman: Welcome to Concealed Carry Podcast, part of the ConcealedCarry.com network, brought to you by HK.
Riley Bowman: Today is actually Thursday, June 25th, 2026, as of the recording of this episode,
Riley Bowman: and I am your host, Riley Bowman.
Riley Bowman: Today marks a special episode.
Riley Bowman: We're actually going to do a replay of an episode that Jacob and I recorded 10 years ago this week.
Riley Bowman: Yes, all the way back in the last week of June 2016,
Riley Bowman: where Jacob and I actually shared with the listeners about the historical context
Riley Bowman: around the beginning of the war for independence for the United States of America.
Riley Bowman: The first shots fired, of course, at Lexington and Concord and kind of everything
Riley Bowman: that led up to that, which a lot of it was surrounding gun control.
Riley Bowman: As many of you know, the British were marching their way to Concord,
Riley Bowman: where one of the largest supply stores of gunpowder was located for the Patriots.
Riley Bowman: And, of course, on their way there in Lexington, met a band of 200 or so
Riley Bowman: Rebels at that time, Patriots, of course, that decided to meet them right there
Riley Bowman: and have a little bit of a skirmish. And that's kind of where it all began.
Riley Bowman: And of course, there was gun control that was attempted to be implemented in the city of Boston.
Riley Bowman: And anyway, so we're going to get into that in this episode today.
Riley Bowman: There was really no reason to go and re-record something like this.
Riley Bowman: I thought it was a good episode to replay for you because it's no longer available
Riley Bowman: in the standard podcast feed.
Riley Bowman: And so I hate to see it just get lost, you know, to the ether, so to speak. So.
Riley Bowman: It's a perfect opportunity in the days leading up now to our 250th birthday
Riley Bowman: of our nation to go ahead and bring this episode back for you.
Riley Bowman: But first, I want to share with you a couple of episode sponsors.
Riley Bowman: As you are hearing this, we are preparing to launch our annual Independence Day sale.
Riley Bowman: We always call it Happy Birthday America Sale. And this one is special because
Riley Bowman: this is the Happy 250th Birthday America Sale.
Riley Bowman: We have a big sale planned. It's not starting yet, but as I mentioned,
Riley Bowman: as I'm recording this, we are preparing for that sale right away.
Riley Bowman: It will be going live next week, so just before 4th of July.
Riley Bowman: I'll give you a little more details on that in just a second,
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Riley Bowman: So you're going to want to look into that by going to guardiannation.com and
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Riley Bowman: 250th birthday America sale.
Riley Bowman: Starting next week. In fact, so here's when the sale will kick off.
Riley Bowman: On July 3rd will be when the sale starts for everybody, no matter who you are,
Riley Bowman: no matter if you're a Guardian Nation member or not.
Riley Bowman: But on July 2nd, the sale will be starting for Guardian Nation members only.
Riley Bowman: And that's so that Guardian Nation members have the opportunity to jump in on
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Riley Bowman: So that's another reason why you want to be a Guardian Nation member so that
Riley Bowman: you get the earliest access to the sale and you get the biggest discounts on the sale as well.
Riley Bowman: So there you go. July 2nd is when the sale kicks off for Guardian Nation members.
Riley Bowman: July 3rd for everybody else. It'll be running through July 4th and throughout the weekend as well.
Riley Bowman: So that's when the sale is kicking off. Happy birthday, America.
Riley Bowman: We are so excited to celebrate with all of you. 250 years. It's a remarkable
Riley Bowman: milestone and I'm proud to be an American, as I'm sure you are all as well.
Riley Bowman: And so we look forward to celebrating it with you.
Riley Bowman: Also, it should be noted that there will be a couple of special bonuses,
Riley Bowman: including a special, let's just say if you buy during the sale,
Riley Bowman: there's a special gift we will be sending you as well.
Riley Bowman: Really excited about this, something we've worked quite extensively on.
Riley Bowman: And I think you're going to be really excited when you see what that extra little
Riley Bowman: bonus is just by participating in the sale during that uh happy birthday america sale so
Riley Bowman: With that i'm going to go ahead and play back now this episode that jacob and
Riley Bowman: i did 10 years ago covering the history
Riley Bowman: surrounding the beginning of the revolutionary or war for independence
Riley Bowman: and everything leading up to it so much of it was all about gun control and
Riley Bowman: you guys know how we feel about that so i'll catch on the flip side after you
Riley Bowman: have the chance to listen to this episode. Where do we start, Jacob?
Jacob Paulsen: Well, I think, you know, to give some fairness, you and I have done some research
Jacob Paulsen: in preparation for this. I think it would be unfair to assume that we're just
Jacob Paulsen: going to rattle this stuff off the top of our heads.
Riley Bowman: That's true. Yeah, so one thing, I'm going to use an article for much of the
Riley Bowman: basis of this episode today.
Riley Bowman: I want to give full credit to David Koppel.
Riley Bowman: The article will be in the show notes. And this article is titled,
Riley Bowman: The American Revolution Against British Gun Control.
Riley Bowman: And it's just a fantastic article. And really, Jacob, you were the one that
Riley Bowman: first put me onto it, and I thank you for that.
Riley Bowman: I have become a fan of this article. And I've seen some other writings of Dave
Riley Bowman: Koppel, but this was just fantastic.
Riley Bowman: I bookmarked it, saved it, everything.
Riley Bowman: And originally, this article appeared in the Administrative and Regulatory Law
Riley Bowman: News. Boy, that sounds really exciting.
Riley Bowman: Of the American Bar Association back in 2012.
Jacob Paulsen: Which obviously infers that our friend Dave is obviously an attorney.
Jacob Paulsen: And here from Colorado, he's local to us.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, yeah. And I didn't know that until you'd mentioned it.
Riley Bowman: So that's really cool. Maybe one day we'll cross paths.
Jacob Paulsen: Well, you know, I'd have to be careful. I don't know that he's actually an attorney.
Jacob Paulsen: I know he teaches law at DU.
Riley Bowman: Would you not be an attorney if you taught law?
Jacob Paulsen: I assume you would. I don't know.
Riley Bowman: I think he is.
Jacob Paulsen: You don't have to own a business to teach a business course.
Riley Bowman: I'm pretty sure he's an attorney. In fact, I believe he was assistant attorney
Riley Bowman: general or something like that here in Colorado, I want to say.
Jacob Paulsen: That's hardcore.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, so I'm pretty sure he's an attorney.
Jacob Paulsen: I'll take it.
Riley Bowman: So, in fact, according to Wikipedia, he is an American author,
Riley Bowman: attorney, political science researcher, gun rights advocate,
Riley Bowman: and contributing editor to several publications.
Riley Bowman: And I thought there was something else interesting, too, as I was reading about him.
Riley Bowman: Currently, he's the research director of the Independence Institute in Golden, Colorado.
Riley Bowman: And also on Wikipedia, it says, politically, he's a lifelong registered Democrat.
Jacob Paulsen: There you have it. Not all Democrats are bad.
Riley Bowman: But he is all gun. I mean, he is very much pro-gun. So that's pretty cool.
Riley Bowman: Very interesting. that's not commonplace but it does exist
Jacob Paulsen: That's right.
Riley Bowman: So let's jump right in. You know, the events leading up to the Revolutionary
Riley Bowman: War, just, you know, it was a fascinating time.
Riley Bowman: I mean, here we had colonies.
Riley Bowman: Originally, of course, as often is talked about, the original 13 colonies of America.
Riley Bowman: And these colonies were under British control.
Riley Bowman: Of course, Britain at the time was the world power.
Riley Bowman: And I mean, there was really no equal to Britain at this time of history.
Riley Bowman: And it's interesting to me that Britain really created its own demise.
Riley Bowman: It colonized the Americas. And the Americas grew and grew and grew and got more
Riley Bowman: powerful, more powerful, and ultimately, you know, led to,
Riley Bowman: you know, it just, it created a beast that it couldn't harness itself anymore.
Riley Bowman: And probably would have been a quiet beast, but the Brits decided to get a little,
Riley Bowman: let's say, I guess, aggressive with its policies regarding the Americas.
Jacob Paulsen: Well, Britain had just come out of a war, right? Is it the Seven Year War?
Jacob Paulsen: Maybe I got my history right. And it was very expensive.
Jacob Paulsen: So I think the short of, just to really simplify the story, is that they were
Jacob Paulsen: broke and they needed money.
Jacob Paulsen: And so they started passing a lot of taxes and things on the American colonies,
Jacob Paulsen: which were very wealthy, to try and booster it. And that didn't go over so well, right?
Riley Bowman: Yeah, a popular phrase from the time was taxation without representation, right?
Jacob Paulsen: Right.
Riley Bowman: So they were not pleased that the British government would send
Riley Bowman: representatives from England, from the British government, to set up the government
Riley Bowman: and to rule and also was taxing and taking money and all that money was being – or at least
Riley Bowman: most of that money was being funneled back to England.
Riley Bowman: And yeah, that didn't go over well at all.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah. So in December, 1773, we have the famous Boston Tea Party.
Jacob Paulsen: And this was, I think, the first, I'll call it tipping point,
Jacob Paulsen: where the colonists are kind of saying, hey, we're not going to stand for this.
Jacob Paulsen: And I've been there, by the way, Riley, right where the Boston Tea Party took
Jacob Paulsen: place. I've stood on that shore. Pretty intense.
Jacob Paulsen: And so December 1773, Boston Tea Party, and that led to the Coercive Acts.
Riley Bowman: Which were a series of laws or provisions that here's one thing.
Riley Bowman: One of the big things that was a problem with this was that Great Britain said,
Riley Bowman: hey, here's these laws, and if you guys don't abide by them,
Riley Bowman: the British army is going to come and force you to do so.
Riley Bowman: And that just was not cool at all.
Riley Bowman: In fact, quoting from Dave Koppel's article, the Patriots of Lancaster County,
Riley Bowman: Pennsylvania resolved, quote,
Riley Bowman: that in the event of Great Britain attempting to force unjust laws upon us by
Riley Bowman: the strength of arms, our cause we leave to heaven and our rifles,
Riley Bowman: end quote. Wow, powerful.
Jacob Paulsen: That's hot. And then a South Carolina newspaper essay that was reprinted in
Jacob Paulsen: Virginia urged that any law that had to be enforced by the military was not
Jacob Paulsen: – was necessarily illegitimate or was not necessarily legitimate.
Jacob Paulsen: So they weren't happy about the idea that the British government would send
Jacob Paulsen: troops to enforce these – what they felt were unjust laws to begin with.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. I mean, of course, at this time, Great Britain or England was a very much
Riley Bowman: – well, it was – crap, I lost the word.
Jacob Paulsen: Monarchy? A new monarchy? Yes, thank you. At a parliament?
Jacob Paulsen: I was trying to say monarchy. It was a monarchy, but I mean,
Jacob Paulsen: the parliament was also relatively new there and that created a really interesting situation, right?
Jacob Paulsen: Because America really was kind of requesting all this help and asking all these
Jacob Paulsen: questions and was upset with what parliament was doing.
Jacob Paulsen: And then eventually really King George,
Jacob Paulsen: you know, the monarch sided with parliament and said, you know what?
Jacob Paulsen: America is like, I could go either way on this, but I'm going to side with my
Jacob Paulsen: new government, with the parliament.
Riley Bowman: Right, right. And so my point was, you know, here we have this monarchy that,
Riley Bowman: you know, has also a parliament, which today, you know, the parliament really
Riley Bowman: is what, you know, rules the country or establishes law and order.
Riley Bowman: The monarchy anymore is really, I mean, I guess it's there and I'm sure it has
Riley Bowman: its influence, but it's not anything like it was back in the 1700s.
Riley Bowman: And so – but my point was is here we had a monarchy and a parliament that instead of
Riley Bowman: being a traditional – I mean they had turned into a dictatorship,
Riley Bowman: right, where it is here's the laws and you are going to abide or else.
Riley Bowman: And these freedom-loving people over in the Americas, that just did not work.
Riley Bowman: In fact, there was a part in this article I thought was pretty interesting.
Riley Bowman: Let me see if I can dig it out again. It referred to the people,
Riley Bowman: the American people, giving up themselves to slavery. Oh, here it is.
Riley Bowman: It's quite a bit deeper in the article, but
Riley Bowman: it said, because every attempt by the Americans at peaceful reconciliation had
Riley Bowman: been rebuffed, the only remaining alternatives for the Americans were to accept
Riley Bowman: slavery or to take up arms.
Riley Bowman: And by slavery, they're talking about the American people would be slaves to Britain.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, at the end of a gun.
Riley Bowman: Right, and that's exactly what it would have been. You know,
Riley Bowman: and so that's, this is really, I mean, this is the core of what we're going
Riley Bowman: to discuss for the next little while here in that
Riley Bowman: laws are passed laws that they disagreed with, and they were going to be forced
Riley Bowman: at the sword at the rifle at the gun to follow these laws.
Riley Bowman: So, here's what happened next.
Jacob Paulsen: Can I talk about Thomas Gage now?
Riley Bowman: Well, that's where I was going. So, please do.
Jacob Paulsen: So, this is a name you need to remember. If you're listening right now,
Jacob Paulsen: remember the name General Thomas Gage.
Jacob Paulsen: What a wonderful man.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, right. We love him.
Jacob Paulsen: So, General Thomas Gage, he was the, what was his title? The Royal Governor of Massachusetts.
Jacob Paulsen: So this guy was put in place to rule by Britain. He was the governor of Massachusetts.
Jacob Paulsen: And he had, up to this point, forbidden that town meetings take place more than once a year.
Jacob Paulsen: Right? Freaking fantastic idea. Like, what kind of a dictatorship is this, right?
Riley Bowman: That feels all warm and fuzzy.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, that sounds great. And so,
Jacob Paulsen: he dispatches some redcoats, some British soldiers, right, under the rule of
Jacob Paulsen: the king, to break up an illegal, as he defined it, town meeting in Salem, Massachusetts.
Jacob Paulsen: And this is still in 1774, after the Quoist of Acts had been passed. So we're in 1774.
Jacob Paulsen: And so he sends these troops to go right up to this town meeting in Salem,
Jacob Paulsen: and 3,000 armed Americans appear in response. They're like, excuse us, what?
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah. And so the British retreat. They're like, we can't do this.
Jacob Paulsen: And Gage is, General Gage, his aide named John Anders, he comes back to Thomas Gage and says, hey,
Jacob Paulsen: Governor, everyone in the area, age 16 years and older, owned a gun and plenty of gunpowder.
Jacob Paulsen: Like that was his explanation back to General Gage as to why they had to retreat.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. So the people, I mean, they still had their arms. They still had their
Riley Bowman: ability to defend themselves.
Riley Bowman: Here was a policy they absolutely disagreed with. And, you know,
Riley Bowman: they were being forced to not hold their meeting.
Riley Bowman: And so they react. Well, okay.
Riley Bowman: Here's quoting again, military rule would be difficult to impose on an armed
Riley Bowman: populace. Gage had only 2,000 troops in Boston.
Riley Bowman: Remember how many people showed up at that meeting to say, uh-uh, this isn't working?
Riley Bowman: 3,000. So just in this one instance, there's 150% more people that show up with
Riley Bowman: arms, with guns, than what Gage has in total of troops stationed in Boston.
Riley Bowman: So, and then it says, there were thousands of armed men in Boston alone and
Riley Bowman: more in the surrounding area.
Riley Bowman: One response to the problem was to deprive the Americans of gunpowder.
Jacob Paulsen: So this is an interesting thing to understand about the time, right?
Jacob Paulsen: So at this time, gunpowder is not what we're used to today.
Jacob Paulsen: Like smokeless gunpowder that we're used to is very stable. Like it's not volatile, right?
Jacob Paulsen: But in the 18th century, black powder was far more volatile.
Jacob Paulsen: And so it generally was not the kind of thing you would store at your home.
Jacob Paulsen: And so towns like Boston, for example, would have a powder house.
Jacob Paulsen: And a powder house is generally a very reinforced brick building.
Jacob Paulsen: And the powder house is where they would hold these reserves of the powder for use for anybody.
Jacob Paulsen: I mean, certainly the government would keep it there. The soldiers would keep
Jacob Paulsen: it there. But also, even individuals would store their own personal reserve
Jacob Paulsen: of powder at the powder house.
Jacob Paulsen: And that was just kind of the way it all worked. And it was just the nature
Jacob Paulsen: of that beast. And so think about it. If you're Governor Gage and you're like,
Jacob Paulsen: okay, well, I can't fight in quantity.
Jacob Paulsen: They have more people than I do.
Jacob Paulsen: It would seem like a relatively solution in his mind to, hey,
Jacob Paulsen: let's just go seize all the black powder. That'll solve this problem.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. Typically, families or individuals at this time would keep probably only
Riley Bowman: The amount that would be held in their powder horn at home.
Riley Bowman: You know, which would hold enough for a number, you know, dozens and dozens
Riley Bowman: of shots, you know, but it was a relatively small quantity, you know,
Riley Bowman: maybe an eighth of a pound, maybe a quarter of the pound at the most.
Riley Bowman: And so, like you said, you know, the larger quantities, you know,
Riley Bowman: a pound, a keg, whatever would be kept usually at a local powder house.
Riley Bowman: So General Gage had this incredibly bright idea, you know, which was rather
Riley Bowman: than go directly to the citizens and take their guns,
Riley Bowman: you know, let's go and seize their powder houses and take all their powder.
Riley Bowman: And then they can't, you know, plus there would also be, you know,
Riley Bowman: guns as well, public arms that were kept in these powder houses as well for
Riley Bowman: the local townspeople, the local
Riley Bowman: militia or whatever, although most individuals did have their own guns.
Riley Bowman: So rather than take the guns directly, let's just go to the powder house and take all this powder.
Riley Bowman: And that would limit their ability to, you know, they'd probably still have
Riley Bowman: some smaller amounts that would continue to allow them to hunt and provide for
Riley Bowman: their families, but they wouldn't have the ability to put on a huge uprising
Riley Bowman: against the government.
Riley Bowman: So on September 1st, 1774, 260 of Gage's redcoats sailed up the Mystic River
Riley Bowman: and seized hundreds of barrels of powder from the Charleston Powder House.
Riley Bowman: And so this is interesting. Quoting still from the article, the powder alarm,
Riley Bowman: as it became known, was a serious provocation.
Riley Bowman: By the end of the day, 20,000 militiamen had mobilized and started marching towards Boston.
Riley Bowman: How many troops did he have there? A tenth of that.
Jacob Paulsen: In 2000.
Riley Bowman: In Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, rumors quickly spread that the powder
Riley Bowman: alarm had actually involved fighting in the streets of Boston.
Riley Bowman: Probably not entirely true, right?
Riley Bowman: But more accurate reports reached the militia companies before that militia
Riley Bowman: reached Boston, and so the war did not begin in September. I mean,
Riley Bowman: we had this moment right there in history where a pretty significant war could have started.
Riley Bowman: The message, though, was unmistakable. If the British used violence to seize
Riley Bowman: arms or powder, the Americans would treat that violent seizure as an act of war and would fight.
Riley Bowman: And that is exactly what happened several months later on April 19th,
Riley Bowman: 1775. So that brings us to a very key moment in history.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, so I want to take a pause here and just point something out.
Jacob Paulsen: You know, I was, we had a guy recently write a comment on, we have an article
Jacob Paulsen: on our website about, you know, is there or is there not a national registry of firearms?
Jacob Paulsen: And he wrote a comment, I can't remember his name, but it was a really thought
Jacob Paulsen: out comment. And he said something to the effect of, you know,
Jacob Paulsen: how do we call up a militia if we don't have a list of gun owners?
Jacob Paulsen: And, you know, I remember I read the comment like in my email and I was like,
Jacob Paulsen: oh, I'm going to have to think about this before I respond.
Jacob Paulsen: But then, you know, I started thinking about these stories.
Jacob Paulsen: Like you're talking about 1700s, you know, like there are no phones.
Jacob Paulsen: There are newspapers, but they're, you know, I mean, think about how they're
Jacob Paulsen: actually getting printed.
Jacob Paulsen: You know, there's no texting. There's no nothing, right? No TV.
Jacob Paulsen: And all of a sudden, I mean, early in the morning, you can have 200 and something
Jacob Paulsen: redcoats go steal some gunpowder.
Jacob Paulsen: And by the end of the same day, 20,000 citizens with guns are mobilized and are marching.
Riley Bowman: That's huge. That is incredible, is what it is.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, that's the point. A militia is not an organized, as the founding fathers
Jacob Paulsen: saw it, a militia was not like a list of troops organized and ran by the government.
Jacob Paulsen: Our founding fathers saw the word or the idea of a militia as just people,
Jacob Paulsen: like just citizens, like you and me and our neighbors.
Riley Bowman: Well, and why would a militia exist? It would exist because at this time,
Riley Bowman: I mean, the new world is still a very volatile place.
Riley Bowman: I mean, at this time, at this point, it's relatively stable for the most part, but it would not be
Riley Bowman: totally out of this world for
Riley Bowman: some other rival nation of Great Britain to come and try to take control.
Riley Bowman: And so people in the Americas were used to needing to be prepared and defend
Riley Bowman: themselves if necessary.
Riley Bowman: Also, I mean, there were issues from time to time with Indians as well.
Riley Bowman: And so you could quickly assemble the townspeople to fight back and to defend themselves.
Riley Bowman: And so this is not – you're right in that it's not an extremely well-organized entity that –
Riley Bowman: Uh, but yet, you know, it could quickly become such because that was just the nature of the people.
Riley Bowman: Uh, and so, yeah, there, there was no need for a list of, of people.
Riley Bowman: There was no need for a list of arms or equipment.
Riley Bowman: It simply was, you know, people banding together. And I kind of see this 20,000
Riley Bowman: people marching towards Boston as probably starting with a dozen,
Riley Bowman: you know, and they start marching their way.
Riley Bowman: And as they go, every little town and community they come upon is like,
Riley Bowman: you know, where are you going?
Riley Bowman: We're going to Boston. This is what happened over here. Join up with us now. Okay.
Riley Bowman: Drop your plows and your shovels and whatnot and grab your guns.
Riley Bowman: I'm sure it started relatively small and just it grew and grew and grew as they
Riley Bowman: made their way towards the town.
Riley Bowman: And then, of course, how did word get around? Well, it got around by people
Riley Bowman: on horses like Paul Revere.
Jacob Paulsen: Right.
Riley Bowman: So it's a fascinating thing, though. I mean, it's rare that you see masses of
Riley Bowman: people to that extent assemble so rapidly.
Riley Bowman: I mean, like, you know, in the morning, General Gage's Redcoats sees the powder
Riley Bowman: horse there at a powder house at Charleston and by, or Charlestown,
Riley Bowman: excuse me, by the end of the day,
Riley Bowman: 20,000 people are assembled.
Riley Bowman: Oh, just, it's a, it's a remarkable story in history. Yeah.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, it's powerful. And from there, we see a series of local counties and towns
Jacob Paulsen: who start to create these resolves and these documents where they essentially
Jacob Paulsen: say, hey, we're taking control now.
Jacob Paulsen: We're going to form our own local government. We're going to take control of the local militia.
Jacob Paulsen: We're replacing the government appointed officers and we're going to elect our own.
Jacob Paulsen: And you see this happen, you know, in several kind of places,
Jacob Paulsen: you know, immediately following this initial powder alarm when the citizens
Jacob Paulsen: start to realize, like, okay, like, we get their game.
Jacob Paulsen: Like, they can't beat us in numbers, so they're going to try and take our guns
Jacob Paulsen: or our ability to use the guns in this case.
Riley Bowman: Yep. And so, you know, over the next several months, remember we were in September
Riley Bowman: of 1774, and we're leading up to April 19th, 1775.
Riley Bowman: Over these months, like you said, there's a number of times where local government
Riley Bowman: and not British government, but people try to assemble.
Riley Bowman: They created a First Continental Congress. They created a Massachusetts Assembly.
Riley Bowman: And the General Gage, he declared that assembly illegal. He says,
Riley Bowman: you're not authorized to do this.
Riley Bowman: And so all this is going on. The Redcoats begin to search people,
Riley Bowman: search their homes, their businesses for guns and ammunition.
Riley Bowman: And then quoting again from David Koppel's article, according to the Boston
Riley Bowman: Gazette of all General Gage's offenses, quote, what most irritated the people
Riley Bowman: was seizing their arms and ammunition.
Riley Bowman: So, that's going on and the people are just day by day, week by week,
Riley Bowman: month by month are getting more and more and more upset and ticked off.
Riley Bowman: And so, just because of time, I'm going to kind of fast forward a little bit.
Riley Bowman: All this leads pretty much right up to this date that I mentioned, which was April 19th,
Jacob Paulsen: 1775, which is… Just a quick interjection there, Riley, because I think just worth noting, okay?
Jacob Paulsen: You mentioned a quote from the Boston Gazette. I just didn't want any of our
Jacob Paulsen: listeners to get confused.
Jacob Paulsen: That was not a quote from the modern Boston Gazette talking about a long time ago.
Jacob Paulsen: The Boston Gazette is the oldest newspaper in America, if I'm not mistaken.
Jacob Paulsen: It was first published in 1719.
Jacob Paulsen: Wow. So we're talking about, at the time, this is what the Boston Gazette said.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, yeah. Oh, you know, I just was reminded, too, there was one other thing I wanted to mention.
Riley Bowman: That in between September of 1774 and April 1775,
Riley Bowman: there was a resolution made in English Parliament, which was supported by King
Riley Bowman: George III, saying, you know, we're going to disarm the Americans.
Riley Bowman: Because, you know, they're being told, hey, we cannot do what we need to do
Riley Bowman: there in the Americas because of their arms.
Riley Bowman: And so, you know, they said, let's disarm New England, which,
Riley Bowman: you know, the Northeast, Massachusetts and so forth. Gage replied
Riley Bowman: To the king and to parliament saying, we would like to do so,
Riley Bowman: but it's impossible to do so without the use of force.
Riley Bowman: So what happened was, oh, and then they had an embargo against importation of
Riley Bowman: arms and ammunition into America.
Riley Bowman: And behind the scenes, Ben Franklin, good old Ben Franklin, was managing to
Riley Bowman: import arms and ammunition from Netherlands, France, and Spain.
Riley Bowman: This, you know, begins a, you know, what's the word, an alignment or,
Riley Bowman: you know, these three countries right there become allies of America for a long time to come.
Riley Bowman: You know, France, Spain, you know, continue to support America even,
Riley Bowman: you know, well after this point, you know, up through the War of 1812 and so
Riley Bowman: forth, you know, providing resources to the Americas.
Riley Bowman: But anyway, there was a – in December of 1774,
Riley Bowman: there was a report that there were two British warships heading to Fort William
Riley Bowman: and Mary near Portsmouth, New Hampshire to seize guns, cannons, and gunpowder.
Riley Bowman: Paul Revere was sent.
Riley Bowman: This is before the later event, which we're coming to, right?
Riley Bowman: So he's sent to give them heads up and warning, which they received.
Riley Bowman: So anyway, continuing on and on, there's so many amazing stories that occur during this time.
Riley Bowman: But as you are probably getting a sense for just tensions continue to grow and grow and grow.
Riley Bowman: And so that leads us to Lexington and Concord.
Riley Bowman: Jacob, give us a
Jacob Paulsen: Little bit of the – You were setting that up for me?
Riley Bowman: Yes, I was setting that up for you, sir, because I know you're going to totally rock it.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, so I think you did a good job of kind of talking about all the events that led up to this.
Jacob Paulsen: But we're talking about – you mentioned April 19th, and this is where we're
Jacob Paulsen: at now. This is really when the war begins.
Jacob Paulsen: Essentially what happens here and we saw it coming is,
Jacob Paulsen: redcoats are dispatched 700 of them as it were under the command of Major John
Jacob Paulsen: Pickeran maybe is how you say his name Pickeran,
Jacob Paulsen: and they left Boston and they specifically went with the intent and sole purpose,
Jacob Paulsen: of going and seizing all arms and powder at Lexington and Concord that was their
Jacob Paulsen: mission like go to Lexington and Concord and come back with all their guns and powder,
Jacob Paulsen: right and so the them go ahead.
Riley Bowman: Was there a reason why lexington and concord
Jacob Paulsen: That's a really good question i think i think that uh you know i don't know
Jacob Paulsen: did i miss something i'm what i'm about to say is.
Riley Bowman: I i just had the thought i'm like why lexington and concord i've maybe i learned
Riley Bowman: that one time but i don't remember right now
Jacob Paulsen: I suspect that's just where they thought the arms were and the powder sure yeah,
Jacob Paulsen: yeah so i don't i don't know that for sure,
Jacob Paulsen: so they they find out they're coming which is the real famous ride,
Jacob Paulsen: this is the one if by land two if by sea you know kind of paul revere story
Jacob Paulsen: we know from the north church in boston which by the way riley speaking of which
Jacob Paulsen: i've been to the north church in boston and to paul revere's house and it is awesome.
Riley Bowman: Right yeah i've never been there i'm so i'm i'm jealous someday i will make it there for sure though
Jacob Paulsen: They have this huge bronze statue statue of paul revere like kind of down the
Jacob Paulsen: road a little bit from North church and it's intense.
Jacob Paulsen: So anyway, and the church, by the way, is still operational.
Jacob Paulsen: Like you can go there to a Sunday service. Just throw that in there. Yeah. So, yeah,
Jacob Paulsen: They, you know, Paul Revere does this famous ride, warns everybody,
Jacob Paulsen: and by the way, he wasn't the only one. There were actually two people that
Jacob Paulsen: were dispatched to warn everybody that the British were coming.
Jacob Paulsen: And they get everybody ready. And the militia assembled at the Lexington Green,
Jacob Paulsen: which is basically like a big field, and the Concord Bridge.
Jacob Paulsen: And they were, you know, these are Americans. They supplied their own guns from their own homes.
Jacob Paulsen: A few people probably had to borrow some guns, as we understand.
Jacob Paulsen: And, you know, there were even young women there. that were assembling cartridges
Jacob Paulsen: and providing materials and supplies to the army. So at dawn,
Jacob Paulsen: the British confront about 200 militiamen at Lexington.
Jacob Paulsen: And I quote from Major Bickaren, Disperse you rebels, damn you,
Jacob Paulsen: throw down your arms and disperse.
Riley Bowman: They didn't like that. I bet that went over real well.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, they did not think that was cool at all.
Jacob Paulsen: And so needless to say that shots were fired.
Jacob Paulsen: That's the famous you know the first shot of the american revolution there is
Jacob Paulsen: some debate over who fired the first shot if it was the uh the rebels or the
Jacob Paulsen: redcoats but anyway first shots,
Jacob Paulsen: the revolution uh right right there from from lexington green,
Jacob Paulsen: and uh the redcoats decide to march on you know onto concord where they figure
Jacob Paulsen: that they're going to do much better um
Jacob Paulsen: in fact one of of general gage's spies had told him that the largest patriot
Jacob Paulsen: reserve of gunpowder was stored at concord um and so that's where they had there's your why,
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah. Yeah. That's where all the gunpowder was apparently. Yeah.
Riley Bowman: So it was just a large store. That's why they, that's why they probably picked
Riley Bowman: there to go and to be, and you know, just to back up just a little bit,
Riley Bowman: I think it's interesting here.
Riley Bowman: I mean, two things that jumped out at me for one, the, you know,
Riley Bowman: Paul Revere, Samuel Dawes,
Riley Bowman: these guys riding on horseback to warn the people did so successfully because the night before,
Riley Bowman: you know, the people know and the women are staying up late preparing loads,
Riley Bowman: you know, cartridges as it calls it here, which I mean, these are not cartridges
Riley Bowman: in the traditional sense, but, you know,
Riley Bowman: they would put, you know, the proper load of gunpowder,
Riley Bowman: wrap it in some paper or whatever and, you know, have the ball and everything.
Riley Bowman: I mean, basically all I had to do is tear this open, dump it in the gun,
Riley Bowman: you know, ramrod it and it was ready to be fired essentially.
Riley Bowman: The women are doing, you know, like it's not just that the men are involved in this effort.
Riley Bowman: It's not just the men are fighting. The women are also fighting and doing,
Riley Bowman: you know, their part, particularly, you know, for how
Riley Bowman: things were in this day and age, they're doing their part to also support this
Riley Bowman: war, this war effort, which is what it becomes.
Riley Bowman: And I think that's pretty fascinating.
Riley Bowman: And I would probably argue that, you know, many of the women knew,
Riley Bowman: but just as much as the men did, I suspect, you know, they probably could,
Riley Bowman: if they had to, could pick up a lot of these guns and fire them themselves.
Riley Bowman: So, you know, here we have the big battle at Lexington, right?
Riley Bowman: Which doesn't really go so well for the rebels.
Riley Bowman: You know, the Redcoats...
Riley Bowman: Basically win that that fight but what they find out is that you know people
Riley Bowman: were prepared and anything that they were going to
Riley Bowman: uh get you know there in the town had already been you know taken and stored somewhere else
Riley Bowman: they they marched their way on to concord and get there and find out that that
Riley Bowman: large store in concord of ammunition and powder and so forth is is also gone
Riley Bowman: you know The people, they knew they were coming.
Riley Bowman: They got everything moved and stored somewhere else safely. So that,
Riley Bowman: you know, ultimately this was a loss for the Brits.
Riley Bowman: Because they were not able to seize everything like they wanted to.
Riley Bowman: But then the interesting thing starts or happens. They turn around.
Riley Bowman: They start marching back towards Boston.
Riley Bowman: And this is where they start getting really –
Riley Bowman: the accounts of this march back towards Boston, I think, are – I mean,
Riley Bowman: it's not hilarious. It's not necessarily a funny thing. But it is kind of in a way.
Riley Bowman: You have these just scrappy townspeople and they're like, how dare you?
Riley Bowman: And so as the Brits are marching back towards Boston, there's all these little
Riley Bowman: skirmishes along the way.
Riley Bowman: And a lot of times too, just individuals that are hiding in the forests in various
Riley Bowman: places and just picking off British soldiers. Yeah.
Jacob Paulsen: One British officer reports, quote, these fellows were generally good marksmen
Jacob Paulsen: and many of them used long guns made for duck shooting, end quote.
Riley Bowman: And also on a per-shot basis, the Americans inflicted higher casualties than
Riley Bowman: had the British regulars. So the British are the ones that are supposed to be
Riley Bowman: well-trained to fight battle.
Riley Bowman: But in reality, the American people, I described them as being scrappy,
Riley Bowman: and that's exactly what they are.
Riley Bowman: I mean they've had to fight for survival.
Riley Bowman: They've had to work really hard to develop their farms, their land,
Riley Bowman: build their homes, hunt for food, grow food, whatever.
Riley Bowman: This is what they do.
Riley Bowman: You put a gun in their hand, they know exactly what to do with it. They know how to shoot.
Riley Bowman: And there was numerous references in this article and during this time of history,
Riley Bowman: you know, where the reports would go back to
Riley Bowman: parliament and to the king of, you know, hey, these Americans,
Riley Bowman: they practically have a gun in their hand from the cradle. You know,
Riley Bowman: they're born, you know, as soon as they can walk, like they got a gun in their
Riley Bowman: hand. And so, you know, they are,
Riley Bowman: you know, they know how to use these things is what I'm trying to say, so.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, yeah. This begins, you know, I mean, obviously, you know,
Jacob Paulsen: Lexington Concord, it's the beginning of the war. But then we kind of,
Jacob Paulsen: you know, transition from these random skirmishes to defend our guns and powder to a siege.
Jacob Paulsen: I mean, the Americans are just taking up arms, right? They're saying,
Jacob Paulsen: hey, we see what's going on here.
Jacob Paulsen: This is war now, right? And the Massachusetts people, they're all in.
Jacob Paulsen: You know, this is a part of the country. In fact, it's really funny to kind
Jacob Paulsen: of think about where we're at today in Boston.
Jacob Paulsen: But anyway, this is a part of the country that's just on board,
Jacob Paulsen: and they lay siege in Boston. They literally trap in General Gage's army and siege the town.
Jacob Paulsen: And so now the king's army can't really leave.
Jacob Paulsen: They're stuck. They're surrounded by Americans in guns. And,
Jacob Paulsen: you know, there's a handful of skirmishes and things that take place,
Jacob Paulsen: you know, from April 1775 up through later and, you know, considerably later
Jacob Paulsen: in the year when George Washington shows up, you know, appointed to lead the
Jacob Paulsen: army and he kind of takes control.
Jacob Paulsen: And probably the most famous of the skirmishes is Bunker Hill.
Riley Bowman: Right, right. And before you – because I want you to share the story about Bunker Hill.
Riley Bowman: But there's a quote here I really like. It talks about General Gage.
Riley Bowman: He tried to disarm the Bostonians, which he did somewhat succeed.
Riley Bowman: He collected more than 2,600 guns from this gun control effort there locally in Boston.
Riley Bowman: He basically says, you know, if you want to leave the town, which the reason
Riley Bowman: they would want to leave is because, you know, the army had really just locked down tight on Boston.
Riley Bowman: You've got rebels that are also basically trying to keep, you know,
Riley Bowman: control of the troops there in Boston. And so General Gage says,
Riley Bowman: hey, if you want to leave, feel free, but you got to leave your guns here with me before you do.
Riley Bowman: And so he does collect some guns. Meanwhile, Ben Franklin, he heads to London around this time.
Riley Bowman: And he goes there to try to, you know, use diplomacy and say,
Riley Bowman: look, you know, this is not working out very well.
Riley Bowman: But his trip is not successful. It doesn't go over well. He returns back to
Riley Bowman: Philadelphia. And this is the quote I wanted to share.
Riley Bowman: It says, quote, this is quoting apparently him or his writings or something.
Riley Bowman: I don't know exactly, but it's a quote saying, he was highly pleased to find
Riley Bowman: the Americans arming and preparing for the worst events.
Riley Bowman: Benjamin Franklin is just a total stud. So anyway. And it was coming.
Riley Bowman: Yeah, yeah. I mean, at this point, you can pretty much see the writing on the
Riley Bowman: wall and people were preparing. So Battle of Bunker Hill.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, so before the Battle of Bunker Hill, three major British generals.
Jacob Paulsen: I mean, we're talking like these were big dogs in the British Army or Navy, really.
Jacob Paulsen: William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne show up in Boston.
Jacob Paulsen: And this is late May, 1775, and they have orders from Britain to seize all arms
Jacob Paulsen: in public armories or which have
Jacob Paulsen: been secretly collected together for the purpose of aiding rebellions.
Jacob Paulsen: And so with that, on June 17, we have the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Jacob Paulsen: So essentially the militia and the British regulars, they just have a little
Jacob Paulsen: skirmish here, but it's a bigger one than normally in terms of,
Jacob Paulsen: bigger than normal in terms of number of people that were, you know,
Jacob Paulsen: injured or there were casualties.
Jacob Paulsen: And it was pretty intense. In fact, there's some really kind of famous paintings
Jacob Paulsen: about that. And I think Americans would have won that skirmish if it hadn't
Jacob Paulsen: been for the fact that they actually ran out of gunpowder. I mean, they ran out of ammo.
Riley Bowman: Yeah.
Jacob Paulsen: You know?
Riley Bowman: Yeah. And it says that they probably would have succeeded if the Charleston
Riley Bowman: Powder House hadn't been seized the previous fall.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, which we talked about. Mm-hmm. So I've been to Bunker Hill,
Jacob Paulsen: which is why you offered to let me talk about this because,
Jacob Paulsen: It was a very emotional event for me. Boston actually has this really cool thing
Jacob Paulsen: called the Freedom Trail. Have you ever heard of the Freedom Trail, Riley?
Riley Bowman: I think I have heard of it, but I don't know much about it. Yeah.
Jacob Paulsen: Continue. When you go to Boston, you got to do the Freedom Trail.
Jacob Paulsen: So the Freedom Trail is, I think it's two and a half to three miles.
Jacob Paulsen: It's a trail. It goes, you know, kind of winds through the town.
Jacob Paulsen: It starts at Boston Commons and it ends at Bunker Hill. That's the end of the Freedom Trail.
Jacob Paulsen: It's actually marked literally with red bricks. It's like Wizard of Oz style.
Jacob Paulsen: I like follow the red brick road. And it's true. Like literally the red bricks
Jacob Paulsen: like go through streets and through sidewalks.
Jacob Paulsen: So you just follow these red bricks on the Freedom Trail. Anyway,
Jacob Paulsen: so it ends at Bunker Hill.
Jacob Paulsen: And so, you know, imagine I remember when I walked the Freedom Trail in 2010.
Jacob Paulsen: And you're having, you know, it's pretty emotional to see all the sights throughout
Jacob Paulsen: that Freedom Trail. And then you end at Bunker Hill.
Jacob Paulsen: And Bunker Hill, in case, you know, for those who haven't been there, it ain't a big hill.
Jacob Paulsen: Like that was the first thing I thought when I got. And it was late at night
Jacob Paulsen: at this point. I'd been walking for a couple of hours. I walked the entire trail.
Jacob Paulsen: And it was probably like 8.39 o'clock. It was dark. It was a time of year that
Jacob Paulsen: it just wasn't light anymore at that point.
Jacob Paulsen: And Bunker Hill today, anyway, I don't know about back then,
Jacob Paulsen: but today it's in the middle of like a residential neighborhood.
Jacob Paulsen: Like there's houses around it.
Jacob Paulsen: Like there are some people who like live on Bunker Hill darn near, right?
Jacob Paulsen: And so you kind of walk to the top of Bunker Hill and there's a monument up
Jacob Paulsen: there. It looks like a mini Washington monument For those of you who have been
Jacob Paulsen: to D.C. or know what I'm talking about.
Jacob Paulsen: So it's the same kind of shape and style as the Washington Monument,
Jacob Paulsen: but it's considerably shorter and smaller. And there's a flag waving.
Jacob Paulsen: And, man, it was intense. Like, I remember standing there and just,
Jacob Paulsen: like, looking over this tiny little hill and the homes that were surrounding it and thinking, crap.
Jacob Paulsen: Like, it's pretty intense to, like, be willing to die for a cause.
Jacob Paulsen: Like, what are you willing to die for? You know, like, that's pretty hardcore.
Jacob Paulsen: We're talking about people who are dads and brothers and sons.
Jacob Paulsen: Like, there's a limited number of things I'm willing to die for.
Jacob Paulsen: And so that's pretty sobering.
Riley Bowman: The people, I mean, they were committed. You know, the common phrase at the
Riley Bowman: time was liberty or death.
Riley Bowman: People would even wear shirts and almost like a uniform would have stitched
Riley Bowman: onto them liberty or death
Riley Bowman: that was what was important to the people was to be free they wanted to be free
Riley Bowman: and if they couldn't be free they would rather be dead
Jacob Paulsen: That's right yeah it was just crazy,
Jacob Paulsen: I just remember standing on that hill and you know the craziest thing I was
Jacob Paulsen: the only one there wow wasn't another person in sight I mean in the homes I
Jacob Paulsen: could see lights, you know, but I was all by myself on this national,
Jacob Paulsen: I assume today it's like a national memorial or monument or something.
Jacob Paulsen: And I was just standing there all by myself, dead silence, you know,
Jacob Paulsen: late in the evening, dark outside, flag was waving. It's well lit,
Jacob Paulsen: beautiful, well lit flag. And it started to rain a little bit.
Jacob Paulsen: And I'm glad it did because I started to cry. It was like, this is so emotional.
Jacob Paulsen: I'm telling you, Bunker Hill is a must stop.
Riley Bowman: Cool.
Riley Bowman: Good story. So, anyway, so we have this battle there.
Riley Bowman: As I mentioned, they probably would have annihilated the British Army at this
Riley Bowman: point, at least what was stationed there at this time, had they not run out of powder.
Riley Bowman: Two days later, General Gage renews his commitment to disarming the people and
Riley Bowman: says, anyone found in possession of a gun will be charged with treason,
Riley Bowman: which as you might've guessed, that would be, the punishment would be death.
Riley Bowman: And so, you know, that's, that is what's at stake here. And that's why I mentioned
Riley Bowman: what I mentioned was that, you know, the people understood this liberty or death.
Riley Bowman: It was either, or there was no middle ground.
Riley Bowman: They were either were going to be free or they were going to die. Okay.
Jacob Paulsen: So, yeah, at that same point, you know, we're talking a little bit later now
Jacob Paulsen: in July, Continental Congress sends a letter to the people of Great Britain,
Jacob Paulsen: an open letter to the people of Great Britain warning that, quote,
Jacob Paulsen: men trained to arms from their,
Jacob Paulsen: infancy and animated by the love of liberty will afford neither a cheap or easy conquest, end quote.
Riley Bowman: And they had, in fact, adopted an official declaration of causes and necessity
Riley Bowman: of taking up arms, which was written by Thomas Jefferson.
Riley Bowman: So here we begin to see kind of the beginnings of, I mean, almost exactly a
Riley Bowman: year later, we have the Declaration of Independence, which is, I mean, very similar.
Riley Bowman: They lay out in this, you know, all their grievances, why they are so upset,
Riley Bowman: why they are taking up arms, why they are fighting back.
Riley Bowman: And it does come back to this main concept, their love of liberty, their desire to be free.
Riley Bowman: And they lay out their grievances about, you know, Britain's taxation of the
Riley Bowman: people, their lack of representation.
Riley Bowman: And here's another good quote. So, a Swiss immigrant, John Zubli,
Riley Bowman: who was serving as a Georgia delegate to the Continental Congress,
Riley Bowman: he wrote a pamphlet entitled Great Britain's Right to Tax by a Swiss.
Riley Bowman: So kind of an interesting take and perspective on this.
Riley Bowman: So anyway, he says here, he warned that in, quote, in a strong sense of liberty
Riley Bowman: and the use of firearms almost from the cradle, the Americans have vastly the
Riley Bowman: advantage over men of their rank almost everywhere else.
Riley Bowman: Indeed, children were, and again quoting him, shouldering the resemblance of
Riley Bowman: a gun before they are well able to walk.
Riley Bowman: The Americans will fight like men Who have everything at stake And their motto was Death or freedom
Riley Bowman: The town of Gorham, Massachusetts, now part of the state of Maine,
Riley Bowman: sent the British government a warning that even many of our women have been
Riley Bowman: used to handle the cartridge and load the musket.
Riley Bowman: So, I mean, this is their way of trying to communicate that you can come and
Riley Bowman: you can try to force us and you can do battle with us.
Riley Bowman: But just know that virtually every walking person, men and women,
Riley Bowman: man and child, is able and willing to fight.
Riley Bowman: And you guys don't have that quality or caliber of soldier coming to do battle with us.
Riley Bowman: Really, really remarkable stuff.
Jacob Paulsen: Yeah, it's just kind of crazy to think about. And this isn't in the article, but later that year.
Jacob Paulsen: And not too much later after this time, we're talking June, July,
Jacob Paulsen: summertime, the Continental Congress does appoint George Washington to lead
Jacob Paulsen: that army, which it was tough.
Jacob Paulsen: I mean, some of the delegates from particularly some of the southern states,
Jacob Paulsen: they had a hard time with the idea of even recognizing that there was an official army.
Jacob Paulsen: But they dispatched Washington as a general. They appointed him as a general
Jacob Paulsen: and they sent him to Boston to take control of that siege.
Jacob Paulsen: And it's eventually successful.
Jacob Paulsen: Washington, this is where he meets Henry Knox.
Jacob Paulsen: I'm a raving fan of Henry Knox, by the way. I think he's just awesome.
Jacob Paulsen: And Henry Knox is sent to, or volunteers, frankly, to go to Fort Ticonderoga
Jacob Paulsen: and bring back the cannons that he heard were there. And he did successfully,
Jacob Paulsen: like through the snow and it's a whole awesome story.
Jacob Paulsen: And in one single night, they run the cannons up the hill in Dorchester Heights,
Jacob Paulsen: which also a really cool thing to check out when you're in Boston.
Jacob Paulsen: And they put the cannon in such a position that when the British soldiers woke
Jacob Paulsen: up, they had no choice but to retreat. It was like they were staring at those
Jacob Paulsen: cannons up on Dorchester Heights thinking, like, we're screwed.
Jacob Paulsen: Like, we can leave or they're going to kill us all.
Jacob Paulsen: And so quickly the siege was ended when those cannons went up the hill.
Jacob Paulsen: I might be misquoting it because I don't have it in front of me,
Jacob Paulsen: but there was a British officer who was quoted as saying something like,
Jacob Paulsen: those dear boys have done more in one night than I could get my troops to do in a week.
Jacob Paulsen: And so the siege of Boston is over for a time, but that's when the British get
Jacob Paulsen: really serious and they send a crap load of troops to New York and that becomes
Jacob Paulsen: the new headquarters of the battle.
Riley Bowman: Yeah. I mean, that's really what we came here to talk about today.
Riley Bowman: It was just kind of all this leading up to the Revolutionary War at a very core
Riley Bowman: premise of it. I mean, it wasn't the only motivation, but it was a major motivation was gun control.
Riley Bowman: And as you mentioned earlier in the episode, Jacob, there are people that would have us believe
Riley Bowman: That this wasn't necessarily the case, that the right of guns and an individual's
Riley Bowman: right in particular to ownership and possession of guns
Riley Bowman: was not that prevalent in the minds of our forefathers.
Riley Bowman: But I think this history lays it out very clear that that's not the case at all.
Riley Bowman: And as you said, I mean, you mentioned about the militias.
Riley Bowman: They weren't necessarily this super well-organized machine.
Riley Bowman: They weren't at all. They were just people that lived near each other that were
Riley Bowman: in the same community or town or village that they knew if called upon that
Riley Bowman: they just needed to run and grab their guns and their powder and their balls.
Riley Bowman: And go and fight, and that they would assemble together and they would do so.
Riley Bowman: This sentiment should, and to an extent in many areas of the country, still exist today.
Riley Bowman: As far as, I mean, I'm certainly not part of a well-organized,
Riley Bowman: in fact, I'm not part of any militia whatsoever, other than the sentiment of
Riley Bowman: my heart is that if my nation were attacked,
Riley Bowman: I would take up arms to defend it and would be able and willing to do so.
Jacob Paulsen: Right. I am a member of the militia of the people, right? That's the point.
Jacob Paulsen: The militia is the people. We are the militia. We are the people.
Jacob Paulsen: And I can see some people who would hear this story and say,
Jacob Paulsen: well, but today we're not under British rule.
Jacob Paulsen: We don't have problems with taxation, with that representation.
Jacob Paulsen: Like, we live in a democracy. Like, what are you worried about?
Jacob Paulsen: You know, like, I could totally hear people like hearing this whole story and
Jacob Paulsen: saying, yeah, but so what?
Riley Bowman: Yeah, the times have changed.
Riley Bowman: Um, and, and you're right. I mean, there definitely are people that believe
Riley Bowman: that and are going to believe that. And no matter what we say,
Riley Bowman: they're not going to change their minds or their opinions about that.
Riley Bowman: But my opinion in my, again, referring to my sentiment is that more and more
Riley Bowman: we have a government that seems to,
Riley Bowman: you know, barge its way into more and more facets of people's lives,
Riley Bowman: people's everyday lives.
Riley Bowman: I mean, think of everything that you do in a day and how much of that is dictated
Riley Bowman: by government or the way in which you do your daily activities are dictated by government.
Riley Bowman: And I'm not saying government is bad, but too much government and government
Riley Bowman: out of control is rarely, in fact, it's never a good thing.
Riley Bowman: And so here we are at a time where is being discussed and talked about at great
Riley Bowman: length about, you know, what to do about guns, particularly so-called assault
Riley Bowman: weapons or assault rifles.
Riley Bowman: You know, of course, the feeling is still fresh and the memory is still fresh
Riley Bowman: in the minds of people about the attack at the Orlando Pulse nightclub.
Riley Bowman: And, you know, what to do, what to do, you know, and of course,
Riley Bowman: there is a quite a crowd that would say, let's take these guns away.
Riley Bowman: In fact, some people would take all guns away.
Riley Bowman: They just feel that they are not necessary. But here is why the founding fathers,
Riley Bowman: I think, believed it was so important that they put a specific
Riley Bowman: Amendment to the Constitution dealing with the right to keep and bear arms.
Riley Bowman: And it's because they understood that a government, in their case,
Riley Bowman: it was the government of Great Britain.
Riley Bowman: A government that could disarm the people could do whatever it wanted to to
Riley Bowman: the people, and the people would become slaves to that government.
Riley Bowman: This is why there is such strong feeling on the pro-gun side,
Riley Bowman: people such as myself, you, Jacob, and many others, and our listeners,
Riley Bowman: as to why it's so critical that we fight against gun control.
Riley Bowman: It's because we take a little more, we take a little more, we take a little
Riley Bowman: more, and before we know it, we're not going to have really anything left.
Riley Bowman: And the government will have full and complete power and control of the people.
Riley Bowman: We will become slaves to our own government.
Jacob Paulsen: You know, this is inherent. You know, there's no other option.
Jacob Paulsen: There is no other way to prevent that worst-case scenario than allowing the people to be armed.
Jacob Paulsen: There's no other option.
Jacob Paulsen: I know we elect our officials, and it's a democracy and all that goodness,
Jacob Paulsen: but there is absolutely no way to throw off the despot than to allow the people to be armed.
Jacob Paulsen: It will always keep tyranny in check.
Riley Bowman: You know, and the question will come up, you know, well, what's the need for
Riley Bowman: AR-15s or so-called assault rifles?
Riley Bowman: You know, and it's already to the point where the people, we do not have equal
Riley Bowman: power to the government or to the military or whatever as far as,
Riley Bowman: you know, we are already outgunned.
Riley Bowman: But to me, that's kind of part of the sentiment or the explanation behind it.
Riley Bowman: What's the need for my AR-15 with a 30-round magazine and tons and tons of rounds of ammo?
Riley Bowman: The need is, I don't anticipate needing it anytime soon or any day,
Riley Bowman: but it is there much for the same reason as our founding fathers had their powder
Riley Bowman: houses and their muskets and their balls in.
Riley Bowman: Which at the time, I mean, that was the state-of-the-art weaponry.
Riley Bowman: It was a muzzleloader, it was a musket rifle.
Riley Bowman: I believe that it was the intent of our founding fathers that the people should
Riley Bowman: have the arms necessary to defend themselves against tyranny.
Riley Bowman: And that brings us to a conclusion of this episode today. I hope you enjoyed
Riley Bowman: listening to this replay.
Riley Bowman: Maybe you heard it before, but maybe you're a more recent listener of the podcast
Riley Bowman: and you haven't heard this episode before from June of 2016.
Riley Bowman: I know I enjoyed going back through it myself and revisiting the history and
Riley Bowman: the context that Jacob and I discussed.
Riley Bowman: And next week, Jacob and I, in fact, will be doing something also to honor our
Riley Bowman: Independence Day on this special 250th anniversary.
Riley Bowman: Again, a reminder of that upcoming Happy Birthday America sale starting next week.
Riley Bowman: Watch concealedcarry.com and your email for more information and updates about that.
Riley Bowman: And again, consider joining Guardian Nation to make sure that you have the earliest
Riley Bowman: access to, the best pricing, and everything associated with that sale.
Riley Bowman: You're going to want to be a Guardian Nation member.
Riley Bowman: And don't forget that for any purchase made during the sale,
Riley Bowman: And there may be a, I can't remember for sure if there's going to be like a
Riley Bowman: limit to that yet, but that's going to be one of those details you're going to watch for.
Riley Bowman: But it might be that you need to purchase at least $20 or something.
Riley Bowman: I know it's going to be at least a physical product.
Riley Bowman: You got to buy a physical product and we will include a special bonus with every
Riley Bowman: order placed during the Happy Birthday America sale.
Riley Bowman: So I look forward to seeing you guys all do that next week and participate with
Riley Bowman: me in the sale and in celebrating our nation's birth.
Riley Bowman: We'll be back next week again with a special episode, Jacob and I honoring our nation's birth.
Riley Bowman: And until next time, a reminder to train right, train often,
Riley Bowman: and train safe so you can fight hard, fight fast, and fight true. Take care.
Riley Bowman: A reminder that laws vary from place to place and we encourage listeners to
Riley Bowman: seek local legal advice to understand applicable laws concealed carry inc its
Riley Bowman: brands and properties and the concealed carry podcast is not a legal service
Riley Bowman: nor are we attorneys at law we make our best faith effort to share concealed
Riley Bowman: carry related insights and information about firearm related incidents and the
Riley Bowman: laws pertaining based on our own understanding and experience
Riley Bowman: but things can be different where you live or laws may have changed by the time
Riley Bowman: you listen to this we cannot be held liable for your actions based on the information
Riley Bowman: shared in this podcast please exercise care with all things pertaining to firearm
Riley Bowman: use concealed carry and always practice following basic firearm safety rules
Riley Bowman: more information about safety can be found at concealed carry.com forward slash safety