Do guns make people more polite?

[Clinton Huxley]

I see you've never met real chavs, sister, and that the proletariat of the isles still need some work to understand what should be done with the exploiters. like that vile hamster begotten and elderberry smelly huxley bloke who needs to accessorize his dress with a hempen collar.

counter fixed.

You illustrate my point. Having shortened your own quality by a head, the riff-raff left behind have reverted to the brutish. Ever the way with Republics, the tyranny of the chaff.

[Feck]

Does it have something to do with the Merkins all being god-botherers (or having to pretend they are ) .

[Svartalf]

Far as I can tell, the doctrine about armed citizenry has nothing at all to do with religion, except the religious find it convenient when the people they want to enlisst on crusade/jihad/etc already have their own ironmongery and enough training to use it without having to be drilled.

[JimC]

We're usually pretty friendly in Oz, just not that polite about it...

[FBM]

Hard to say for sure. I was just raised to be polite. Guns were plentiful around there, but it was illegal to carry concealed ones. If guns have anything to do with the level of common courtesy, it probably started a few centuries ago when everybody pretty much had to carry guns in order to survive.

Edit:

Do guns make people more polite? No, good manners make people more polite.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Back in the 17th century, and even well into the 18th century, when dueling was commonplace, people were, I suspect, far more polite to one another when weapons were either openly carried (such as rapiers) or duels were a formality. Of course, this also had to do with social strata as well.

Just as a point of mild interest, I'm sure I read somewhere that the mortality rate from duelling actually fell quite dramatically once pistols became fashionable among duellists. I'm not sure of the reasons for this - I suspect that they are several but I'm guessing that the ability for opponents to "delope" (that is, fire your shot harmlessly and then call it quits) had something to do with it. - An option that would not really be open to two people armed with rapiers/smallswords.

[FBM]

I think participants in pistol duels were limited to 1 shot each in the beginning, as they had muzzle-loading single-shots. Also, they were smooth-bore, no rifling, so they weren't very accurate, even at just 20 paces. With a sword/rapier, you don't have to reload, so you get to go at it until one dude is done for...

[Pensioner]

We're usually pretty friendly in Oz.

I have just seen a pig fly past my window.

[FBM]

We're usually pretty friendly in Oz.

I have just seen a pig fly past my window.

Hope you shot it. Fresh bacon...

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Apparently, hair rifling (which was considered unsportsman-like) did appear on late duelling pistols as did concealed hair triggers - which would give the owner an advantage over his opponent who would be unlikely to know the weapon he was using had one.

There are some remarkable stories of two French cavalry officers (Fournier and Dupont - first duelled in 1794) who fought at least 30 duels over a period of 19 years. - They even had a contract written up obliging them to duel whenever they came within 100 miles of each other.
One account of such an encounter (probably embellished) describes one in which they bumped into each other quite accidentally at a garrison billet and were at it straight away. The duel allegedly ended in stalemate with both of them pinning each other by their necks to the walls in a passageway.

[Jason]

Excuse the slight derail.
It's often said that Parisians are notoriously impolite and anecdotal evidence of people I know would seem to bear this out - but I've never been to Paris or heard a Parisian's point of view about this.
....Svartalf? I'd be interested in any opinions you have about this view. Is it unfounded or accurate, in your opinion?

We are the soul of courtesy, it's just the fact that we hate english and all speakers of that abhorrent discord of noises that should be shaped by no human throat... If Merkins and other tourists would just learn a civilized language like ours, they would learn the truth about it.

Also only a moron would formulate such stupid theories and mash of baseless hearsay, and give me a sec so I can spit in your drink.

Though in full truth, and for reasons I do not fathom, Parisians do seem less genial than the average Frenchperson.

Exactly. French people put on airs of superior social etiquette because they believe themselves to be more cultured and civilized than most, if not all, other people on earth. They're a bunch of pretentious, hypocritical, twats. And I say that as someone who is half French.

I suspect Parisians have dropped the facade because, over the years and mass influx of 'barbarian' tourists from all around the world, they've tired of maintaining the hypocritical facade and now wear their absurd sense of superiority openly on their sleeves for all to see - though they will put the mask on for those they deem worthy (the wealthy and influential mostly, but also the occasional sufficiently sycophantic barbarian 'lickspittle').

French people are proof that guns do not make people more polite. They've lost every war in which they haven't been fighting against themselves but it hasn't done them a bit of good.

[Svartalf]

Apparently, hair rifling (which was considered unsportsman-like) did appear on late duelling pistols as did concealed hair triggers - which would give the owner an advantage over his opponent who would be unlikely to know the weapon he was using had one.

There are some remarkable stories of two French cavalry officers (Fournier and Dupont - first duelled in 1794) who fought at least 30 duels over a period of 19 years. - They even had a contract written up obliging them to duel whenever they came within 100 miles of each other.
One account of such an encounter (probably embellished) describes one in which they bumped into each other quite accidentally at a garrison billet and were at it straight away. The duel allegedly ended in stalemate with both of them pinning each other by their necks to the walls in a passageway.

There's even a film, The Duellists that's drawn (loosely of course) from their story.

As for "improved" duelling weapons, that kind of stuff is the reason for which the seconds became charged with providing/inspecting the weapons pretty early in the formalisation of duel etiquette... we have stories from the 1500s about unsporting nobles who purposely dipped theuir swords in manure before going to a duel, to ensure that any wounds their opponent suffered would fester and kill him, or the infamous Baron de Picquigny who fought with sword and dagger until it was noticed that his dagger had a hollow, poison filled handle... I don't remember what he used, but the wounds hindered his opponent far more than they should have... Story has it that one day his opponent's second noticed the blade glistend more than it should and stepped in (not unusual at the time, when you brought as many seconds as you could and a duel was apt to become a mass melee)