Need over Want

People ask, “How many guns do you need?”

Malfoy, below, is getting one, and I firmly believe he may stop at JUST one. As I said, I am kinda jealous of the simplicity. Ad it’s a lot easier to keep track of all your guns when you only have one.

And then they go into the standard 4-gun system popular with most survivalists. A .22, a shotty, a rifle, and a pistol. You hit a guy with a little more gun-enthusiasm and you get a list of 9-11 that you absolutely MUST have to survive a zombie apocalypse. And then a spare of each. (Two is one, one is none.)

1. .22 pistol for practice/plinking, and small game.
2. .22 single shot rifle, for practice, small game.
3. a shotgun for bird hunting and other critters.
4. a shotgun for property defense.
5. a major caliber handgun for defense.
6. a biggish centerfire bolt-action rifle for hunting.
7. a Sport Utility Carbine for CQB.
8. a Support Utility Rifle for defending your country against the rampaging commie hordes.
9. a .22 semi-auto with a suppressor for ninja work and anti-zombie.
10. a smaller handgun in a decent caliber for conceal carry options.
11. a even SMALLER handgun in a just barely acceptable caliber for deep conceal.

And you need the other 11 as a spare. 22 total. You might pare that down a few. The spare is in case one breaks.

You can be a bit MORE of a Gun Enthusiast and desire to equip a squad of close friends and family members with a 4-gun system (see above) each. After the big comet hits and you take to the hills to begin society anew, you need a small band of people to make a go of it.

Go further down the road and you get collectors. One of each S&W revolver, one of each Browning design, a sample of every issue rifle of the US Army since 1800, or of ALL major nations issue weapons. These numbers can run into the hundred of firearms, and there are quite a few of these people out there. Remember that when people say there are 300 million Americans and 300 million firearms. It’s not one gun for each, it’s 100 for this guy and zero for the next 99 folks.

Do you even NEED one? Or will you EVER need one in your lifetime? Dunno. But better to have and never need then to need and not have. I might never need to be shocked with a cardiac defibrillator, and brought back to life to live another 20 years, but if I DO need one…

I know! Let’s ban Defibrillators!

Anyhoo… Where am I on that spectrum? You can pretty much guess, if you are one of my loyal readers (both of you), that I am greater than 4, but less than one of each and a spare (22 total). You can tell from my MASTER LIST, especially if you knew the ones that USED to be on there and were acquired... But, if I won the lottery, I have enough fun that I’d be one of those 100-gun collectors. MBtGE is on the ‘equip a squad’ level.

{update: fixed spelling of 'defibrillators'. so embarrassed. it's such an easy word.}