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Submitted by Publicola on April 8, 2005 - 9:13am.

P6,
You'd consider my collection an "arsenal", but despite our disagreements I don't think I scare you do I? The fact is most people that own firearms own more than one. & there are many with what you'd consider an "arsenal". (How many constitutes an "arsenal" anyway?) Take the number of incidents like this one & then look at the number of firearms & the number of firearms owners. Statistically it'll be a bit more reassuring for you.

But to give you an idea here's what a typical hunter should have if he wants to persue several types of game:

A .22 rimfire caliber rifle for small game.
A .22 to .25 caliber centerfire rifle for varmints
A .25 to .30 caliberrifle for deer sized game
A .27 to .35 caliber rifle for elk sized game
A .30 to .40 caliber rifle for moose & bear sized game (which would pretty much be moose & bear)
A lightweight shotgun for upland birds
A slightly heavier, longer shotgun for waterfowl
A shotgun set up to fire slugs for shotgun only deer hunts.
A short barreled rifle sighted shotgun for turkey

Add on a .22 pistol for small game &/or trapping, a pistol larger than .40 caliber for small to medium large game. I'll omit discussion of muzzleloaders for muzzleloading season or the differen types of each caliber rifle for hunting under certain conditions.

That's 11 guns. Would that be an "arsenal"? & would it scare you for a hunter to have that many even though they all serve a specific purpose?

Most people can get by with less for a number of reasons, but it's kind of like telling a golfer they can only have a 9 iron, 3 iron, putter & sand wedge. Sure, it can be done but it's less than ideal.

Add on variosu shooting games (skeet, hi power rifle, bowling pins, bullseye pistol, etc...) & it becomes difficult to do everythign well unless you have the right tool for the job.

Me? I hunt a little (actually considering my luck "hiking under false pretenses" is more accurate a description)& I compete (occassionally) with rifles. I carry pistols for protection & I collect (or at least try to) certain types of rifles. But barring someone trying to kill me or someone I care about (or even don't care about if it's not justifiable) then I'm not a threat to anyone.

Judge people not by what they own, but by what they do with it. Or not. I'm just trying to illustrate that gun owners, even "arsenal" owning gun owners aren't as scary as you seem to think.

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