Posted on 11/22/2005 9:19:56 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
How many guns is too many?
By Caitlyn Kelleher
Chris Tietgens owned 15 different guns by the time he was 15.
Now, at age 66, he has a room full of firearms as part of his personal collection.
The Leominster resident has firearms that date back to the early-1800s, firearms German soldiers used in World War II, original Winchester rifles and a pocket-pistol made in Fitchburg in the early-1900s.
Tietgens collects firearms, hunts and competes in target competitions.
"They represent a whole line of interests," he said. "It's not just a one-thing reason."
Tietgens does not understand why anyone would wonder why he owns so many guns.
"It's the view of the person that knows less and less about firearms," he said.
The ability of people to sit around and casually discuss firearms has disappeared during the last few years, said Tietgens.
His comments come two weeks after Templeton Police arrested Scott Tardiff, 37 , after he turned over 16 firearms, ammunition, and an expired license to police when they served him with a restraining order.
Tardiff was charged with firearm possession without an firearm identification card, possession of a large capacity firearm, improper storage of a firearm, and improper storage of a large capacity firearm.
Tardiff, a former Leominster resident, was arrested within yards of Baldwinville Elementary School.
This concerned many parents, who said they were upset by the fact that the guns were not locked away.
While not talking about this case, area hunters and gun collectors said it is not unusual for a person to have more than one gun.
Different guns are needed to hunt different types of animals, shoot different targets and collected.
Hiding their guns away
"I think the stigma is somewhat caused by the laws," said Jim Wallace, the executive director of the Gun Owners Action League in Northboro. "By law we have to hide our guns away."
State laws require all firearms to be "secured in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device, properly engaged so as to render such weapon inoperable by any person other than the owner or lawfully authorized used."
Wallace said he thinks many people have a false sense of security and believe it is someone else's job to "protect me and feed me."
And while state gun laws regulate the sale, the possession, the carrying and the types of guns a person can own, they don't regulate the number of weapons someone can own.
Gun owners, including Tietgens, say many of these law are confusing, poorly designed and cause more harm to legal gun owners than criminals.
"Laws don't always make sense, they don't cover all the what ifs," Tietgens said.
A person needs to have a firearms identification card in order to possess a license in the state.
The cards can be obtained through the local police department. Applications are available in local police departments and a person must submit proof they have completed a safety course.
Police can refuse to issue the cards if someone has been convicted a felony or a misdemeanor that carries a sentence of two years or more or have been confined for mental illness, drug addiction or habitual drunkenness.
Still, many law-abiding gunowners say criminals will find ways to get guns.
"There is no way you are going to stop the average crook from getting their hands (on guns)," Wallace said. "If you are not going to stop the illegal drugs and the gangs, you aren't going to stop the illegal gun use."
Philip A. Madonia, III, the president of the Fitchburg Sportsmen Club, is a hunter.
He said he owns more than one gun but would not specify how many.
The 50-year-old Fitchburg resident said it is important to teach people to respect firearms, both to control their use, but also to remove the stigma attached to owning guns.
"I think it is a misperception of how guns are used by sportsmen and why they are used," he said. "I got introduced to it as a Boy Scout on issues of safe handling and use."
Richard Freel of Clinton agrees older generations did a better job of teaching their children to respect firearms.
"I think that used be something handled by parents years ago," he said.
The Clinton man said he owns about 10 firearms, including shotguns, rifles and pistols, which he uses in competitions.
"I shoot holes in paper," he said describing his interest in guns. "The goal is shooting a perfect target."
The different weapons allow him to perfect his shooting, depending on a variety of factors.
"I am protecting your second amendment to keep and bear arms," Freel said. "I think our forefathers, who wrote our constitution, were wise."
To a leftist gun-grabber, one is too many!
Sweet! That means I can get 2,147,483,635 more!
In which case? AFAIK the last second amendment case they heard was in the 1939 in the Miller case in which they determined that the term "arms" meant such arms as would be useful to a militia.
You know, machine guns, riot shotguns, sniper rifles, recoilless rifles, mortars, etc, etc., but they rejected the government's claim that the second only applied to the militia They also ruled that the lower court should not have taken "judicial notice" that a sawed off single shot break action shotgun was such a weapon, without some evidence or testimony indicating that such a weapon would be useful to a militia. It would of course.
Don't believe the Hoplophobes' spin.
And if you have a spare gun and little ammo, you loan it to them, along with some really rudimentary instruction in how to use it, and how not to. Of course in MY neighborhood, a single mother is likely to be a member of the 4th ID (the folks who "got" Saddam) or the 1st Cav, and will already know how to use it, possibly better than I can, and there'd be a good chance she already has a firearm.
Actually you were in violation of state law. Only a few states, not including Texas, allow open carry of handguns, without a permit (no such permit in Texas, you just can't do it at all). Long guns are another matter, you can march down main street with a loaded AR-15, or for that matter a Barrett .50 BMG if you want.
Q. How many guns is too many?
A. The number that finally causes your wife to file for divorce.
(In scientific circles I think that is called "supersaturation.")
((Of course for many they would want to know what that number is so they could exceed it by 3 or 4 guns...just to be sure. Which begs the question: "Can one really have too many guns?"))
FWIW, these are the same people who would tell us how many dollars we're allowed to own. How much of anything, including opinions.
How many pairs of shoes is too many?
12 ga (870) .223 (AR15) and .40 (Glock) I don't need anything else except spare parts.
Now considering ammo -- you can never have too much in your favorite calibers.
Well, it's more than a few states that let you carry unconcealed.
I've had personal experience openly carrying in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Nevada.
Ed
First, Raich dealt with Controlled substances, that is illegal drugs, not arms. I see no enumerated right to traffic in controlled substances.
Secondly, Bill Lockyer does not sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. No one outside the state of California need pay any attention to his blather.
I don't agree with the Court's decision, because I agree with Justice Thomas reasoning, but it's a hell of a stretch to say this is any kind of precedent for a Second Amendment case.
That is THE perfect answer, bravo!
Otherwise, we'd have US Senators being elected by state legislatures, the President elect taking office in March after an elections, and no federal income taxes. (Didn't say they were always good, did I? )
Not compared to the number that won't. Still it depends on circumstances as well. Both Texas, which has CHL, and Nebraska, which doesn't, allow open carry under some conditions. You just can't be diddy-bopping down the sidewalk in town with a handgun strapped to your hip, ankle or boot. You can do it in the field for example, even if you are fishing (at least in Nebraska, IIRC).
Who was speaking against the majority in that case, arguing against the notion that the Commerce clause is all empowering with regard to regulating commerce in anything.
The number of guns isn't as important as their intended use. A collector can have several and use them properly for hunting, target practice, defense or whatever. A felon can have only one, illegally of course, and that one will cause more harm than thousands in the hands of legitimate gun owners.
Of course, disarming criminals might be a tough job, so better to disarm honest citizens, according to the looney left.
A better question might be how many cars is too many for a Kennedy? One Kennedy has killed more people with his car than all my guns combined have.
But, if the other boys family had been armed, they could have defended him before he was shot.
The sad part the gun nazis can't grasp is that criminals don't buy their guns through legitimate gun dealers. They buy them through other criminals.
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