If you’re not a history expert or weirdly obsessed with WWI, the premise of these dank history memes may surprise you. Apparently, despite widespread use of deadly weapons such as the machine gun, Americans and their use of shotguns were the subject of an actual German protest in 1918. The Germans felt the guns were a form of terrorism, that the caused unnecessary suffering. Their protest was not taken seriously – especially because the Germans were using some pretty terrible weapons of their own. Chlorine gas, flamethrowers – even giant Zeppelin bombers.

The Germans were so appalled by the Winchester shotguns that they threatened to execute any Americans carrying the weapon. Their threats didn’t sway the US Army, who kept using the guns. Some people even credit the weapons with the defeat of the Germans. Right now, the guns (and the protests surrounding them) are the subjects of an insane amount of history memes, mostly popping up in meme communities on Reddit. And they’re pretty freakin’ funny. We’ve put some of the better examples in this gallery, but we bet you can find some more if you creep around r/historymemes. Happy scrolling!