Firearms focus of new exhibit

Firearms shaped the history of the people who wielded them, especially in the American West, from the first coming of the Europeans to the beginning of the 20th century.

The New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces has created an extensive new exhibit that explores the influence that firearms have had in the West over the course of three centuries. A Most Terrible Wonder: Firearms from 1600 to 1900 is located in the Museum's Traditions Gallery through Nov. 8, 2009.

Eighty-seven firearms from the Museum's collections are on display, along with historical information about the role these weapons played.

The exhibit will showcase a variety of different kinds of firearms such as muskets, matchlocks, flintlocks, pepperbox pistols, Colt and Remington revolvers, lever action rifles, and bolt-action rifles. The design and inner-workings of the firearms are explained in the exhibit.

Other subjects include everything from the military's prominent role in developing firearms, to the practice of carrying concealed weapons. The exhibit also explores the origins of expressions such as "lock, stock and barrel," "going off half-cocked," and "flash in the pan."

The exhibit was made possible from a large donation of firearms from Jeanne Hanssen in memory of her late husband, Stan Hanssen. Other firearms featured in the exhibit were provided by Gary and Ellie Miller, T.W. Schettler III and Ruth Roybal Schettler, Wendell Snapp, Harry B. and Nancy A. Brown, John M. Fitch, Max Sneddon, and Brett Siegel.