This week I have been reviewing the history of peacekeeping, all the while following the news reports of revolt, violence, an bloodshed. So it is not strange that today I find myself pondering a profound what if.

What if there had been a greater supply of and access to guns during the American Revolution? 

Certainly we just need to look to the American Civil War to see what happened when technology improved and the availability increased. 

Would the weaponry of today shortened or lengthened the American Revolution? Would there have been more or less bloodshed? Would the decolonization process of the North American colonies been just as turbulent as the process elsewhere in the world?