You'd either be (1) pretty stupid to base your whole argument on probate records from the distant past, or (2) promoting a political agenda that has nothing to do with history.
If, and I only say [b]if[/b], there are few if any weapons mentioned in probate records from [u]any[/u] period of time in America, it results more from a common custom we have, than from any lack of arms in the hands of ordinary citizens.
The common custom? Well, my grandfather was a doughboy in World War I, and an avid hunter and outdoorsman his entire life. When he died in 1962, at the age of 68, he had no weapons of any sort in his estate! Why? He had simply given all of his weapons away to his children and grandchildren during his lifetime!
I would imagine that's the same all over our Country, when a man who's hunted all his life and enjoyed the great outdoors suddenly ceases to be as active, whether through age or illness, he desires to see his children and grandchildren carry on with the pleasures which he has so enjoyed. And he wants to see the look in a grandchild's eyes when he gives that child his first rifle or shotgun!
The way it was with my grandfather (any my father) and the way it will be with me!
So if you want to know what weapons I owned and used in my lifetime, don't be poking around my probate records! Ask my children and grandchildren!
Eric The('Course,You'dBetterBeSmilingWhenYouAsk'Em!)Hun[>]:)]