We all know that the Second Amendment is one of the great bulkworks of freedom, Liberty’s teeth. The Amendment that guarantees the rest, as it were. What is missed in that is that it also has a positive effect on the development of small arms for the military (another necessary defender of freedom). In societies where arms are restricted, arms manufacture is left to the military-industrial complex to devise new weapons and improve on existing ones. A good example of this is how the Kalashkinov family of weapons have developed over the last 60 years or so in the USSR and now Russia.
There have been changes and improvements, but these have been incremental. Stell stampings replaced machined parts for things such as the receiver (a development that mirrored the progress of the MG-34 into the MG-42 in Nazi Germany), a smaller round (mirroring NATO’s adoption of the 5.56 mm cartridge), plastic stocks in place of wood, etc. Notice that many of these “innovations” simply copy designs developed elsewhere and adapt them to the weapon at hand.
Contrast this to the changes in the M-16 family of weapons here in the West. The military does not even begin to have the most advanced variants of this weapon. Development is driven by civilian demand. What caliber do you want your weapon in? There are many, from the 5.56 that the military uses, to 6.8 SPC, to 6.5 Grendel and Creedmore (two different rounds specifically designed for longer range shooting), .300 Whisper (for use with suppressors), to large bore variant s like the .458 SOCOM (one of the few that the military has had a major role in developing), .450 Bushmaster (designed for hunting), and the massive .50 Beowulf (you can shoot whatever you want with a .50).
That is just the available ammunition. Do you want a piston driven weapon, or conventional gas impingement? What kind of stock do you want? Forend with rails? Folding sights, fixed sights, no sights (optical ony)? Optics are too many to begin to list. Would you like a laser with that?
All of this cornucopia of accessories were developed due to civilian demand. Military demand simply isn’t sufficient to drive this level of innovation, but the military benefits. The military can pick and choose what is useful for the mission at had. Even individual soldiers can purchase many of the accessories for their issue weapon, as prices are reasonable due to market competition.
The innovation of capitalism benefits us all. Market driven solutions are usually superior to those developed free of competition’s refining fire. In small arms, this market is protected by the Second Amendment, creating a civilian market for small arms innovation that is unequaled in the world by protecting the right of the individual to own their own small arms.
