Blunderbuss

In an old dictionary the illustration for the Blunderbuss depicts a youth holding the weapon without regard for its recoil. He is about to fire at close range which is the design and capacity for the weapon.

Although the drawing in the dictionary is simple, it does bring to mind young men with weapons directed at the enemy -- other young men. Through larger hysteria and imagined outrages they have been coerced into taking up arms.

On a smaller scale this could be a tavern scene. There is a heated disagreement over a woman, a debt unpaid or a robbery. There is a threat then a resolution.