We’re number one! (In gun ownership)
…and it doesn’t bother me one little bit. From Reuters…
The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.
U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world’s 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies.
About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said.
Really, that figure isn’t that hard to believe. First, we are one of the most populated countries in the world. Second, we have a constitution that guarantees gun ownership (and that really drives the liberals crazy). Finally, most gun owners own more than one gun. Personally, I own nine - with plans for two more.
Now, you may be asking yourself - Double Tap, why in the world do you need 9 to 11 guns? Actually, it’s not that I need them. I’ve just kind of acquired them over the years. I bought my first .22 rimfire rifle at the age of 16. I think I had my father actually buy it, but it was with my saved up allowance. My first 12-gauge shotgun was purchased a year or two later. Both were intended for plinking and small-game hunting.
Since that time, I’ve bought a better version of that .22 rifle (my son will get the old one), a better 12-gauge pump (I keep the old one for sentimental reasons), two different pistols - one for competition and another for self-defense, and a .30-caliber magnum rifle for hunting big game, a muzzle loader for hunting during those seasons (plus, it’s fun to shoot). I’ve also inherited a variety of older rifles and shotguns that mostly have sentimental value, based on who they came from. Planned purchases include a M4 clone, similar to those currently used by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a small pistol for concealed carry.
Does all this make me a gun nut? I don’t think so. It doesn’t consume my life and all my earnings, and I’ve never shot anyone with any of them - nor had the desire to do so. I think I’m responsible with them, keep them out of reach and unloaded at all times, and I’ve made it a point of receiving training in the proper use of those guns. Being a pretty decent father, I plan to pass on those same traits and training to my son - and all my guns.
Lucky kid!
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Gun Control 
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Lucky kid indeed. I plan to collect firearms once I get my life in line. I would like to do target shooting as a hobby.
Right now all I have is a .177 caliber pellet rifle that fires around 1000-1200 feet per second.