Repeating Guns and the Second Amendment

One common gun control argument is that America’s Founding Fathers could not have imagined the repeating “assault weapons” of today. But when the Second Amendment was written in 1791, numerous guns already existed that were capable of faster firing rates or multi-shot capacity compared to the typical muzzle-loading flintlocks of the era.

https://www.rockislandauction.com/riac-blog/assault-weapons-before-the-second-amendment

Introducing the Three-Barrel Hand Cannon/”Handgonne”

Likely originating from China or nearby in East Asia, this “handgonne” is an example of the earliest multi-shot man portable firearms. It has three barrels secured together with bands attached to a section of a haft. The haft would have been longer originally. Each barrel has a touch hole that would have been used to manually ignite the powder charge.