The revolution that lead to the founding of this country actually started a year before the formal declaration to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.

Somewhat ironically the revolution started over what we would today call gun control. The British wanted to seize a Colonial Armory and the pesky Colonials had other ideas.

The day long series of skirmishes what was then the wilds of Concord and Lexington were acts of revolt and treason against the British Crown. Thus started the open warfare that lead to the Declaration of Independence a little of a year later and the war that dragged on until the British gave up and the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783.

Patriot’s Day is celebrated in only three states, Massachusetts, Maine, and Wisconsin. In other parts of the country the holiday isn’t recognized and even locally some people consider this just an excuse to give public sector workers another day off.

Which is a shame, because it was the first battle of a war that has inspired people around the world in their fight for freedom. In some ways, it’s a more important date in history than July 4, 1776.  Which actually should be July 2, since that’s the date that the Continental Congress formally voted to secede from the British Empire.

Which was another act of treason against the Crown. But I digress.

To celebrate, I went to the range and fired off rounds from a couple of my guns. Well, to be completely honest I wanted to test fire a couple of pistols on which I had done some minor work. Either way, events in a town far away from me in both time and distance made my casual use of firearms an pretty unremarkable event. It would have been far different if not for the actions of brave people 238 years ago.