Schwoerer’s history of the introduction and use of firearms in Tudor and Stuart England mixes business, political, legal, constitutional, and social history. Readers interested in business history will find much of interest in the detailed account of the development of the gun industry and the Crown’s role in promoting it. The book presents new information about firearms manufacture in England and adds to current information on the use of guns by various social classes.
Unfortunately, despite claims to the contrary, scholars of legal and constitutional history will find nothing new, and, worse, a skewed account in this book of the statutes and practice. Schwoerer presents basic safety measures prohibiting firing guns in crowded areas and laws that lapsed from lack of enforcement as proof of serious restrictions on the public’s use of firearms. Such measures would not have been necessary if only a few Englishmen owned and used those firearms....