Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Multiples

More conjecture out of the sordid recesses of my little mind.

There are about 300 million Americans in this great land of ours.

There are about 300 million guns.

So, every man, woman, and infant has one gun? No. Some see a gun as merely a utilitarian tools AND take no enjoyment from shooting it. These types of people have but one, maybe 2 firearms. Shoot, my father, who wasn't into guns, had 3 until he gave them to me.

Quite a few of us gun nut types own a few. Or many many more than a few.

Why?

A theory of mine bubbled up recently. When you like shooting you want to TRY every different gun you can. Remember the Saucy Trollop? She isn't THAT big a gun nut. She only has 2. And we don't see each other anymore, what with her moving to French Polynesia. But when she learned that I had bought a couple revolvers recently she made it a point to meet up at the range. She wanted to TRY them. To see what they were like.

For some, the only way they can try a firearm is to buy a copy for themselves, as they have no friend or associate with the same. So they buy a bunch, over time, that way.

I want to TRY a .50 someday. Fortunately I can resist the temptation to lay down $3000 for something I can shoot maybe 10 shots out of, lifetime based on local ranges and costs. But I also want to try a Krag, and those are cheap enough to maybe follow me home with little effort. Must. Resist. Temptation...

Sure sure, this is just one type of multiple-firearms owners. Plenty are artifact collectors that may not shoot them much at all. But the urge to experience novelty, at will, can go a long way to explaining the semi-casual, yet nutty, gun nut.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Behind every blade of grass.

Old NFO said...

Anon beat me to it... :-)