The Department of War on May 29, 2026, recognized private Revolutionary War gunsmiths who supplied Continental forces by making complete firearms from raw materials over weeks, since parts were not interchangeable. Congress on November 4, 1775, recommended colonies hire gunsmiths for bayonet-fitted arms, and in 1777 authorized 100 firearms using Joseph Belton’s repeating flintlock before cost talks collapsed. Joseph G.S. Greenlee’s 2023 paper documented personal manufacturing as historical practice, while Bondi v. VanDerStok in March 2025 held the Gun Control Act covers certain unfinished kits without deciding a constitutional manufacture right.