Before the 16th century, guns were large, cumbersome weapons requiring two hands, one to hold the gun and one to light the gunpowder. The first pistol came into existence after the invention of the wheel lock, a complicated firing mechanism with a wheel that was wound like a clock. When the trigger was pulled, the wheel ground against a stone, throwing sparks that ignited the gunpowder, thereby allowing the user to aim and fire the gun with one hand. Named after the town of Pistoia, Italy, the pistol was supposedly invented there by Camillo Vitelli in the early 1500s.
Wheel-lock pistols gained immediate popularity throughout Europe. For over 100 years before the invention of the pistol, foot soldiers armed with muskets had massacred horsemen armed only with sabers and lances. Therefore, cavalrymen quickly adopted the pistol, which could easily be carried on horseback, to combat the infantrymen’s firepower. Since the pistol was the first gun small enough to be hidden on the body, it became the favourite weapon of assassins. For that reason, Emperor Maximilian of the Holy Roman empire outlawed the manufacture of pistols in 1517. Also, thieves and highway robbers found the pistol perfect for their occupations. Widespread criminal use of pistols created a crime wave in England and forced Parliament to pass pistol control laws in 1542.
Since its inception, the pistol has evolved into a modern lethal weapon which, today, is used more by police and private citizens than by soldiers. The criminal use of pistols which plagued 16th-century Europe continues in the U.S., where, each year, an average of 51% of all murders, 34% of robberies, and 25% of aggravated assaults are committed with handguns.
