In the history of our country, the most relaxed control of civilian weapons was actually the Qing Dynasty. This is something that many people have not thought of, because it has always been said that the Qing Dynasty even banned the practice of folk martial arts, so how could civilians be encouraged to possess weapons? Yongzheng did issue: "It is strictly forbidden to learn the Instructions on Fist and Stick".
In fact, Yongzheng's five-year "Decree on Strictly Prohibiting the Study of Boxing and Sticks" clearly pointed out that those who have the strength to practice fists and feet should practice bows and horses to achieve fame, or serve the country in the military. It is not to prohibit, but to let the martial artists learn real battlefield military skills.
During the Ming Dynasty, all people were divided into certain classes, civil nationalities, craftsmen's registers, military ranks, and so on. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty strictly restricted the possession of weapons by civilian civilians. The Qing Dynasty, on the other hand, directly abolished the artisan register and allowed the people to own weapons to protect themselves. In the 6th year of Shunzhi, that is, in 1649, when the Southern Ming Dynasty was still very powerful, the Qing court promulgated that the people were allowed to own three-eyed guns, shotguns, bows and arrows, knives and guns, and horses.
The reason is that if the people do not have weapons, they cannot resist the harm of thieves, and the thieves are becoming more and more rampant, so the people are allowed to have a certain amount of armament, but they cannot have cannons and armor. When Kangxi was in power, another minister demanded that the possession of firearms be strictly prohibited, and Kangxi said: The stability of the world lies in the gains and losses of governance, and has nothing to do with firearms, can there be more civil firearms than Wu Sangui?
In the 14th year of Qianlong, Pan Siqu, the inspector of Fujian, once again demanded that the civilian weapons be checked, saying that the people of Fujian were not quiet, and they were half-hiding weapons, and that the shotguns, waist knives, spears, rattan plates, and other categories in the province should be handed over to the officials and never allowed to be manufactured. Qianlong said that the people need weapons to defend themselves, and this is the custom. It is necessary to put teaching first, and weapons cannot be collected.
During the Yongzheng Qianlong period, after the Suppression of the Qing Army, the rebel army died, was captured and surrendered to 100,000 people, the Qing army captured artillery, more than 46,500 birds, spears, crossbows and armor 148,000 pieces, these Villages of Miao people equipment even exceeded the most elite Liaodong Frontier Army and Jingying troops in the late Ming Dynasty.
In the late Qianlong period, it had begun to approve the possession of artillery by the people, especially the merchant ships that went to sea to do business, and could carry artillery for self-defense. In the Jiaqing period, a merchant ship was allowed to hold 1-4 guns and up to 6 shotguns, and 10 waist knives as weapons of self-defense.
Therefore, it is because the Qing Dynasty has a high rate of civilian gun ownership, but it allows the Qing Dynasty to have a second armed force. It was the vigilante groups that helped the Qing Dynasty extinguish many large-scale uprisings, including the Great Uprising of the White Lotus Sect, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and so on. The civilian armed forces of the Ming Dynasty were weak, and by the end of the Ming Dynasty, they could only rely on the first force that had lost their combat effectiveness, that is, the Ming Army.