HOW MANY GUNS ARE THERE?

Some years ago I had the opportunity of walking through a number of fields with a game warden to help in the process of counting pheasants. I thought at the time that this had to be a rather unscientific way of counting birds. Quite frankly we didn’t see or hear that many. This is what I learned however. The warden told me that for every pheasant he saw or heard, he multiplied by nine. He advised me that they had been able to prove their method over many years of trying to establish correct numbers of pheasants.

The significance of this counting method comes into play when one attempts to discover just how many guns are in the hands of US citizens. According to an article in “The Christian Science Monitor” dated January 3, 2013, the total number of guns last counted in 2009 was 310 million. That means essentially one for every man, woman, and child in the US. Now does anyone really think that everyone who owns guns actually reported to the pollsters exactly what and how many they had? If you believe that, I have some great, recently filled in, swamp land to sell you. I think a much more accurate count should be 310 million multiplied by a number like say, nine. I know of people who have rooms full of both guns and ammunition.

Here is the significance of this information. If anyone in Washington actually thinks that issuing an order, Presidential, executive, or any other, ending gun ownership in this country would result in gun owners actually turning in their guns, they need to have their collective heads examined. It ain’t gonna happen, period. First of all, nobody really has any idea of the actual number of guns in this country. Secondly, any such order would be illegal. We are guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the US Constitution the right to own and bear arms. And, may I add, the primary reason for this amendment is to prevent any government, foreign or domestic from illegal acts such as this.

Can you just imagine being one of the agents assigned to go out and collect the guns? I think I would rather gather up rattlesnakes barehanded. That would be much easier.

There is a clear reason why no foreign country has ever tried to invade America. The Commander in Chief of the Japanese Imperial Navy Isoroku Yamamoto during WWII is reported to have warned against an invasion of the US because there was probably a gun behind every blade of grass. Those guns are indeed there and they are there to protect this country from invaders from foreign countries as well as from our own government. When the second amendment was written it was already clearly understood that American citizens could and should be armed. This amendment was never about granting citizens the right to own and bear arms. The purpose of the amendment was only to codify that right.

I wrote recently that the noise was only going to get louder and louder. That for a certainty is happening. I can only hope that calmer heads prevail. All Members of Congress need to take heed. There is much more at stake here than just your job in Washington. Messing around with American citizen’s basic rights would rile up an already unhappy majority. I believe that is the last thing you want or need right now.

Ron Scarbro January 23, 2013