Gun-addiction screening

[benEzra]

32. Heh, ok, I'll bite.

"1.Do you own more than 3 guns?
2.Do you own more than 5 guns?
3.Do you own more than 10 guns?"

Yes, Yes, No. But the question makes about as much sense as saying that someone is a "golf addict" if they own more than 3, 5, or 10 golf clubs. People who hunt tend to have "niche" guns for each type of hunting they participate in, but I don't hunt (yet), so I have a fairly small collection---more than 5, less than 10.

"4.Do you feel suspicious of people in general, or uncomfortable around people who don’t own guns?"

No, I repect others and respect their choices. I am not, however, particularly comfortable around authoritarian control freaks who want to compel me by force to live by their personal beliefs. I've had quite enough of that in my life in the past, thanks.

"5.Have you ever thought of brandishing a gun to end an argument or confrontation?"

An argument, no, of course not. Anyone who would think about brandishing *any* weapon, or even fists, to end an argument has serious issues and should see a therapist.

I've never been attacked in such a way that I needed to use or threaten to use any weapon, even a pepper spray, or even consider doing so. I certainly hope never to have to do so, and the way I live my life, it's exceedingly unlikely that I ever will. However, as a serious shooter and an occasional student of martial arts, I've certainly considered scenarios, and tried to prepare/train for them.

My father almost had to once when I was a young child, at night in the Croatan National Forest in the early 1970s, but his would-be assailants backed off when they saw he had a holstered gun, and left. Of course, our crime rate back then was a lot higher than it is now...and it seems that "gun proliferation" has coincided with an almost 50% reduction in the violent crime rate from its peak in the 1980s.

"6. Do you spend more than 5 hours a week on gun forums or reading about guns on the internet?"

Some weeks I do. Mostly because of people like you who spend dozens of hours a week trying to convince others to coerce me to live by your beliefs.

Were it not for those of you trying to take away my personal choices from me, I'd probably spend a lot less time on the Internet, and what time I do spend would be talking about how to shoot smaller groups or mentoring newer shooters about responsible ownership, rather than trying to educate non-gunnies about firearms and firearms law, or debating reincarnations of Carrie Nation or the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.

"7.Do you stock pile more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition?"

Dude, that's like asking if someone "stock piles" more than two gallons of gas for their lawnmower, or whether they "stock pile" more than 3 days' worth of food in their kitchen.

You realize that .22LR ammo is commonly sold in 500-round boxes, right? And that people who practice a lot or shoot competitively tend to buy by the case (1000 rounds) to save money?

I shoot three main calibers: .22LR, 9x19mm, and .223 Remington, plus a couple of minor calibers like 7.62x54mm for my 110-year-old Mosin-Nagant. I can't say I have a thousand rounds of each (wish I did, but I've got a special-needs kid and bills to pay), but the total of all calibers in the safe certainly exceeds a thousand rounds. If you shoot multiple calibers, that's actually not a lot of ammo, and I intend to restock once I can find bulk .22 locally again.

Funny thing is, I'll bet more people probably stock >1K rounds at home than they did ten years ago because of you guys making noises about banning or restricting ammo, and otherwise driving up demand.

"8.Do you feel your unsafe when you’re not carrying a gun?"

If conditions in a given location were such that I feel unsafe without a gun, I'd feel unsafe there with a gun, and would seek to de-ass that area as soon as reasonable and practical. Go read Gavin de Becker's The Gift of Fear and get back to me.

Having said that, regardless of location or prevailing conditions, competence is reassuring, even if it is not synonymous with whether one "feels safe" or not. I am a competent shooter with over two and a half decades' experience, and have tested those skills under a degree of stress. So I am aware that having a gun accessible does provide me with increased capability to respond to an (unlikely) crisis, whether I'm sitting at home (as now), or broken down on the side of the road, or out with my kids in the Croatan National Forest, or eating in a restaurant. But if I felt unsafe somewhere, I'd listen to those feelings and leave if reasonable and practical, armed or not.

"9.Have you purchased guns for family members or loved ones even if they did not want one?"

I've purchased guns for loved ones, but they very much wanted them. Too bad you guys are trying to make that a crime...

"10.Do you always have to have the ‘latest’ in new gun technology?"

By which you mean....what? Guns are a very mature technology. The big "latest and greatest" developments are in optics and accessories. I used to have a holographic sight on my AR (Eotech 516); that was technologically interesting, and that carbine also wears a LED light, which I suppose is a new-ish technology. Who knows, in ten or twenty years I may be able to buy an auto-rangefinding scope with built-in range display and a rendered reticle that moves to display actual POI for the given range and conditions, if I can afford it. But buying the "latest" scope or whatever costs you in both money and reliability.

Guns themselves don't change a whole lot. The most popular civilian rifle, and the one in my gun safe (the AR-15) is a modified 1950s design that works exactly like a Remington from 1908. It currently wears a variable scope, a technology that dates from the late 1800s. My carry gun (Smith & Wesson 3913 Lady Smith) is a refined version of the 1954 S&W Model 39. My competition pistol (FN Herstal FNS-9L longslide...Belgians are good gun designers!), though fairly new, is based on the Browning tilting-barrel design from the late 1890s and the striker firing mechanism from the early 1900s, and the polymer frame dates from the early 1980s (building on polymer framed rifles from the 1960s).

"11.Have you ever left a loaded and unlocked gun around you home or vehicle, just in case?"

At home, the guns are loaded but locked in the safe, unless it is within reach or on my person. If you mean "have you ever kept a loaded gun accessible for use, but under your direct control", then yes, sure.

As far as the car, aren't you anti-licensed-carry activists always demanding that CCW license holders leave their guns in the car when they stop for food, or to shop, or whatever? You can't have it both ways. My preference is that the gun stays on my person rather than being secured in the vehicle, but sometimes you don't let me, no?

"12.Do you spend more than $5,000/year on guns and ammunition?"

No, but it'd sure be nice to have $5000/yr to spend on "fun" things, above and beyond food, housing, and kids' medical expenses. I doubt I'd spend $5K on guns in a year, though, unless you started making serious efforts at banning more guns again.

I'd rather shoot the guns I have, maybe with some better optics, and get a used boat with a cabin to take my family out on the river more, get some new forks for my mountain bike and get my daughter one with a full suspension instead of a hardtail, get my son an off-road trike of some sort, some better camping gear, maybe a deer rifle and a share in a hunting lease, a new game console, whatever. Alas, I have to do the fiscally responsible thing and stick with what I've got, as do most of us in this economy...