"Concerning Hobbits" (Prologue to LotR) gives some very good information on this topic. I'd like to quote a few phrases from the passage that pertains to war and weaponry:
Quote:
...they heeded less and less the world outside where dark things moved, until they came to think that peace and plenty were the rule in Middle-earth...
They were, in fact, sheltered, but they had ceased to remember it.
At no time (my emphasis) had Hobbits of any kind been warlike, and they had never fought among themselves. In olden days they had, of course, been often obliged to fight to maintain themselves in a hard world...
...though there was still some store of weapons in the Shire, these were used mostly as trophies, hanging above hearths or on walls, or gathered into the museum at Michel Delving.
They shot well with the bow, for they were keen-eyed and sure at the mark.
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The Hobbits are in many ways child-like, protected from harm most of the time. They have no quarrels among themselves and with others only when attacked from without. Actually, I think they are not like real children in that respect - most children are not always peaceful!!
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth..
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