This article, authored by Harold Hutchison is republished under the Creative Commons “CC BY-NC-ND” license with permission from The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Associated Press posted a short video that appeared to highlight what it called a lack of regulation of flintlock muskets Thursday morning.
Under federal law, flintlock muskets fall into the definition of “antique firearms” under the language of 18 USC 921(16), which exempts them from many of the regulations and laws at the federal level, as well as in most states. In a caption for the video posted on X Thursday morning, the AP noted that while a musket could fire a projectile at 1,000 feet per second, it was exempt from gun regulations under federal law.
“When you look at the Congressional Record from 1968, Senator John Tower’s rationale, which involved committee hearing testimonies from gun collectors and other historical organizations, spent a lot of care and effort into identifying that cut-off date,” firearms historian Ashley Hlebinsky told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “He clearly lays out not wanting to burden historians, collectors, gun owners, and museums and dives into a pretty thorough explanation for why he believes the year should be 1898.”
A musket from 1776 can fire a lead ball at a velocity of around 1,000 feet per second.
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 14, 2026
Imagine what that can do to a human body. Yet under federal and most state laws, it’s exempt from gun regulations. Many antique or replica guns aren’t considered firearms and even convicted… pic.twitter.com/RBT5ihazdA
Modern firearms are typically breech-loading weapons that use self-contained metallic cartridges with smokeless powder (or modern propellants) developed primarily after the mid-to-late 19th century, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Black-powder muzzle-loading firearms (often classified as “antiques” under U.S. federal law) are older designs that load loose powder, projectile and wadding from the muzzle end, using ignition systems like flintlock, matchlock or percussion cap.
Antique and black-powder firearms are rarely used in crimes. One notable incident was a 2004 triple homicide involving a replica cap-and-ball revolver, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, while another replica was used in a 2016 shooting in Ohio.
“If you’re talking military service, then the Brown Bess or the Charleville – as standard military arms – would be more like the M16 of its day,” Hlebinsky told the DCNF, referencing the standard infantry rifle family issued by the United States military since the Vietnam War. “However, it is important to note that those designs were based on the original AR-15 patents.”
“If you’re talking today’s AR-15 then it’d be more akin to a popular civilian arm of the 18th century, like the American long rifle, which was a multi-purpose tool used for hunting, self-defense and sport,” Hlebinsky continued. “It did see military service, but in limited use because military tactics hadn’t caught up to the technology. In fact, throughout most of firearms history, civilians actually had superior firepower to the military. The military was limited by tactics, bureaucracy and cost, whereas the civilian could commission whatever they wanted.”
The Brown Bess flintlock musket was the standard British Army infantry weapon, introduced in 1722 and replaced starting in 1838, and was widely purchased by American colonists who were required to serve in colonial militias.
An example in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History fired a .71-caliber lead ball from a smoothbore barrel at a rate of three to four rounds a minute. The M16 fires a 5.56mm NATO cartridge, is capable of semiautomatic or full-automatic fire, and uses a 30-round magazine, according to a United States Marine Corps manual.
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