How many guns is “too many”?

[absales]

Interesting topic. I am now at the point where I am only interested in hunting with guns. So the collection is very thin. The question is how many hunting guns do you need, and I also think there is something to be said for picking out only a few guns and putting as many notches in the stock as possible. To each there own!

 

[3chunter]

A man needs as many as he feels he needs to protect his land and homestead. A good rule of thumb is 100 guns per acre. Haha

 

[steve white]

A man needs as many as he feels he needs to protect his land and homestead. A good rule of thumb is 100 guns per acre. Haha

I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe for a minute!

On the other hand, I think BuckStix definitely has to many and should be forced by law to give me some of his.

 

[franzfmdavis]

I had a dear friend that every time he bought a firearm, he bought another identical one so when he passed away, each son would have the same. Always thought that was a great idea…sadly he passed yesterday from pancreatic cancer.

Sorry about the passing of your friend. May his soul be at peace.

 

[franzfmdavis]

I don't know how many countries are represented by the responses thus far but it is interesting that the only suggested limitations are practical ones to be determined by the individual, and that there is significant consensus among those who have responded.

This provides me with a anecdotal response to a friend who claims that “most non-American hunters believe that American have too many guns”.

If any do think so, I would love to hear your reasoning.

 

[BGGMKLR]

That number would be highly influenced by your choice of spouse.
Spike

 

[Safari Dave]

I enjoy obtaining rifles chambered for many, various cartridges.

I am a contrarian, to those who want to "downscale" to just a few chamberings.

The ammo shortages of a few years ago taught me the folly of having only a few chamberings.

There have been at least two times in the last 15 years, where only the most obscure factory cartridges where available.

I think I've learned my lesson now, and have enough ammo to get through a shortage, but you never know...


When the "big box" stores have run out of .223 Remington (5.56x45), .308 Winchester (7.62x51), .243 Winchester, .30/06 Springfield, etc., the "mom & pop" stores still have a few old boxes of .222 Remington, .22 Hornet, .303 British, .30-40 Krag, .300 H&H, and almost any Weatherby ammo you would want.


Diversity is the "spice of life!"
(at least, when it comes to cartridges)

 

[Safari Dave]

I know we are mainly speaking of the US here, but it is amazing to me about the dichotomy of the urban/suburban person vs. the rural person.

I have (briefly) lived in two, somewhat, urban areas in my life.

Most of my life has been spent in rural areas.

I, literally, don't know a person (either male or female) who doesn't own, and know how to use, multiple guns...

 

[Scott CWO]

How many or do you mean how many of each caliber? FAFO!

 

[franzfmdavis]

I know we are mainly speaking of the US here, but it is amazing to me about the dichotomy of the urban/suburban person vs. the rural person.

I have (briefly) lived in two, somewhat, urban areas in my life.

Most of my life has been spent in rural areas.

I, literally, don't know a person (either male or female) who doesn't own, and know how to use, multiple guns...

I have mostly lived in urban areas and it is truly the exact opposite. I would guess the gun ownership of law aboding folk here is 15-20%, and even then most just have one for “protection”’but they never practice with it so is probably more of a liability.

My non-hunting/shooting friends who see my collection almost universally say “why do you need so many,” followed by “you’re nuts,” followed by “I know whose house Im coming too when the zombie apocalypse happens,” to which I just shake my head. They never notice the hypocrisy of their statements.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I have mostly lived in urban areas and it is truly the exact opposite. I would guess the gun ownership of law aboding folk here is 15-20%, and even then most just have one for “protection”’but they never practice with it so is probably more of a liability.

My non-hunting/shooting friends who see my collection almost universally say “why do you need so many,” followed by “you’re nuts,” followed by “I know whose house Im coming too when the zombie apocalypse happens,” to which I just shake my head. They never notice the hypocrisy of their statements.

Big difference is you live in one of the communist democracies we call states and @Safari Dave lives in the N. GA mountains

 

[franzfmdavis]

Big difference is you live in one of the communist democracies we call states and @Safari Dave lives in the N. GA mountains

But even here in Minnesota, outside of the 3-4 metropolitan centers, there are a lot of fisherman, deer, duck and upland bird hunters.

What @Safari Dave is saying is 100% correct.

 

[Woodcarver]

I think that any limitations should be self imposed and not legislatively inflicted. For myself I do not own multiple guns of the same caliber.

Never have been able to restrict myself to only a new caliber. I'm close to being able to outfit a baseball team with 30-06s, lol. Just can't seem to pass on a good deal, or a good trade, regardless of caliber. There have been more than a couple instances where I was given ammunition that didn't fit anything I already had, so it was necessary to go acquire something to shoot it with (yes, that is a necessity), followed by reloading dies and additional components so I could shoot it more often.
The first part, absolutely! The government should have no say in how many, or what, anyone wants to buy.

 

[SaintPanzer]

I know exactly how many guns that I need.

One more...

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

But even here in Minnesota, outside of the 3-4 metropolitan centers, there are a lot of fisherman, deer, duck and upland bird hunters.

What @Safari Dave is saying is 100% correct.

You’re correct, but there are also a lot of city folk who’ve moved outside of the metro areas to suburban/rural areas. That’s going to inflate the number of non-gun owners and drastically inflate the unskilled ones in the rural areas. I say that as someone who grew up in a very rural farm town in one of the most democratic states in the country and has lived in 10+ states at this point. I’ve seen it all over the country. There are only a handful of places where most everyone owns a firearm and Dave’s on one of them.

We’re also all forgetting that many of us live in an echo chamber. We live with/near, are friends with, work with, and associate with more like minded people than unlike minded.

For your friends thinking apocalypse their question shouldn’t be how many guns you have? It should be how much ammo you have for them? What are your nighttime and communication capabilities? What’s your food/water situation like? And MOST importantly what skills do they bring to the table? I had an acquaintance (through my girlfriend) make a similar comment while we were with a group. I just laughed and said you likely wouldn’t make it to my house and IF you did make it, you wouldn’t be welcome because you bring nothing to the table other than 4 extra mouths to feed, shelter and protect. You could’ve heard a pin drop after that.

 

[Safari Dave]

I have mostly lived in urban areas and it is truly the exact opposite. I would guess the gun ownership of law aboding folk here is 15-20%, and even then most just have one for “protection”’but they never practice with it so is probably more of a liability.

My non-hunting/shooting friends who see my collection almost universally say “why do you need so many,” followed by “you’re nuts,” followed by “I know whose house Im coming too when the zombie apocalypse happens,” to which I just shake my head. They never notice the hypocrisy of their statements.

I think we may be on the "same page."


100% of the rural Americans I now know and associate with, own and know how to use more than one gun.


Male, female, and everyone older than 12.




Life is still good in most of the hinterland.

 

[franzfmdavis]

You’re correct, but there are also a lot of city folk who’ve moved outside of the metro areas to suburban/rural areas. That’s going to inflate the number of non-gun owners and drastically inflate the unskilled ones in the rural areas. I say that as someone who grew up in a very rural farm town in one of the most democratic states in the country and has lived in 10+ states at this point. I’ve seen it all over the country. There are only a handful of places where most everyone owns a firearm and Dave’s on one of them.

We’re also all forgetting that many of us live in an echo chamber. We live with/near, are friends with, work with, and associate with more like minded people than unlike minded.

For your friends thinking apocalypse their question shouldn’t be how many guns you have? It should be how much ammo you have for them? What are your nighttime and communication capabilities? What’s your food/water situation like? And MOST importantly what skills do they bring to the table? I had an acquaintance (through my girlfriend) make a similar comment while we were with a group. I just laughed and said you likely wouldn’t make it to my house and IF you did make it, you wouldn’t be welcome because you bring nothing to the table other than 4 extra mouths to feed, shelter and protect. You could’ve heard a pin drop after that.

Agreed!

Ive responded that way too, but found it more polite to guests to just nod in disagreement. Its always interesting to see adults who have no inclination toward being self reliant or useful to others. Just needy and entitled.

 

[mark-hunter]

I am curious to hear well reasoned arguments for any limitations that you may believe should be in place.

If you are practical shooter in hunt or sport, then next one you dont need for anything specific is "the one too many".
If you are collector (or museum) there is no limit.

Other constrains: storage space. Once the locker or man cave is full, first one that goes under the bed because of lack of storage space is "the one too many".

Financial: If there is no money to pay the bills, and new gun comes home, that is the "the one too many".

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Agreed!

Ive responded that way too, but found it more polite to guests to just nod in disagreement. Its always interesting to see adults who have no inclination toward being self reliant or useful to others. Just needy and entitled.

Yah, I'm not that nice or politically correct ... the conversation eventually turned to what each of us considered valuable skills. After about the 2nd or 3rd "I don't know but I'll look it up" from him and someone commenting "do you really think cell towers/the internet still works in a true SHTF scenario" and I think it finally dawned on him. The ultimate comment was actually one of the women saying "we don't know any of that either, what do we bring?" and multiple guys in unison responded with "Blowjobs".

 

[Sabre]

I wanna throw this out there.

Quite awhile ago, maybe 10 years ago, it was trending in the news saying that the average American gun owner owned 3 guns. Also, that the top 3% of gun owners owned 50% of the guns in the US. These top 3% of gun owners owned an average of 17 guns, and (this is the best part) were labeled as "Hardcore Super Gun Owners"

Firstly, I find that name/designation hilarious. Second, that bar seems awful low to me.

So, while you asked for how many guns are too many. I want to throw out a separate metric and say that I think everyone who owns guns should strive to have, at a bare minimum, 17 guns, so that we can all be Hardcore Super Gun Owners.