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."
2,147,483,647
After that you will need to use a different variable type (LONG) in your database to catlog them.
A premise of the article is that controlling guns (the number, for example) will reduce violence. No thought for the idea that when violent criminals used to be held answerable for their acts, that violence was much lower.
The UK eliminated all gun ownership and crimes have been skyrocketing. In fact, hot crimes, in which the perp goes into the house when the owners are there, are way up.
Does. Not. Compute.
As many as you can afford.
Too much [guns]? What's that mean? It's like too much money, there's no such thing
It's like a girl too pretty, with too much class
Being too lucky, a car too fast
No matter what they say I've done I ain't never had too much [guns]
I'll own as many damn guns as I want. In fact, because of this article, I am going to look into getting a rifle - one of the holes in my gun collection...
There is no such thing as too much horsepower or too many guns. The idiot hoplophbes don't realize that an individual can't fire them all at once. A good way to make a hoplophobe speechless is to tell them: "I'm pro choice on the 2d Amendment. I won't force you to own a firearm"!
If you start losing track of them, you have too many.
Too many? No such thing!
More than I need, not as many as I want.
So my house too big of a locked container?
Odd law in MA, both that one, and the Firearms ID card business. My sympathies to MA.
"Too many" firearms is one more than the last blue-nosed busybody thinks you ought to own. That number tends toward zero if you let them run your life for you.
What does it matter? You can only hold two at once.
I'll tell you when I get there.
You can own guns in the UK. Rifles and shotguns are permitted, you need a police certificate. Hand guns are verbotten! Very restrictive, oppressive, but you can own them.
The minimum? At least one or two for every member of your family (extended) and trusted neighbors and friends, plus the ammo to boot!
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