Fridge / The Left Hand of Darkness

• Why do the Gethenians have sonic rifles capable of paralyzing without killing but also arquebuses that shoot stones (not even lead bullets, but stones) among other examples from Schizo Tech? Because they have never had a war, in real life wars cause great technological advances that later, in peacetime, have civil applications. In Gethen's history there has never been a war or any form of organized violence involving hundreds or thousands of people, possibly that is also the reason why they did not have an industrial revolution.
• While talking to the Commensals in Orogeyn, Estraven casually disabuses them of the notion that foray guns—with bullets—are mere relics in Karhide. He mentions that the king's guard carries them. Did he know or suspect that the border guards were similarly armed before he tried to run the border at the end?