A little levity, courtesy of C^2 (this is an email forward; I have no idea of its origins):
You may have heard on the news about a southern California man that was put under 72-hour psychiatric observation when it was found that he owned 100 guns and allegedly had (by rough estimate) 1 million rounds of ammunition stored in his home. The house also featured a secret escape tunnel.
My favorite quote from the dimwit television reporter: “Wow! He has …. about a million machine gun bullets.” The headline referred to it as a “massive weapons cache.” BTW, I am dubious about the pile of ammunition boxes and cans that they showed. It looked big enough to contain no more than about 100,000 rounds, unless there was a lot of .22 rimfire ammo.
However, by southern California standards, even someone owning 100,000 rounds would be called “mentally unstable.” Just imagine if he lived elsewhere:
- In Arizona , . .. . he’d be called “an avid gun collector.”
- In Texas , . .. . he’d be called “a novice gun collector.”
- In Utah , . .. .he’d be called “moderately well prepared,” but they’d probably reserve judgment until they made sure that he had a corresponding quantity of stored food.
- In Wyoming , . .. .he’d be called “The neighborhood ‘Go-To’ guy.”
- In Idaho , . . . he’d be called “a likely gubernatorial candidate.”
- And, in Montana , . . . he’d be called “an eligible bachelor.”
» And, in Montana , . . . he’d be called “an eligible bachelor.”
I was born in the wrong state.
if the guns were all, or most, of the same type?? I’d be suspicious. If not?? he’s just preparing for the chaos and anarchy that will follow if our economy collapses. But, and escape tunnel??? escape from what????
In Wyoming he might be considered fairly well armed, but even that would depend a lot on what kind of guns he had and the caliber of the ammo. We value quality, not just quantity. 🙂
winston — You can always relocate. 🙂
MamaLiberty — Indeed. How many .50-cals? That’s a big question the newsies don’t answer.
Buzz — I’m not even sure the alleged “news report” ever happened (though it would certainly be consistent with other real ones). The whole thing might just be a joke, rendering your questions moot. As to escape tunnels, though … I used to live in a house that had one. I didn’t build it; the house just came that way. The tunnel connected to a below-grade garage that opened onto another street. It was probably built only for convenience, not really for escape. But I thought it was very cool. And in fact it could have been used for an escape, if need be, since it wouldn’t have been clear to everybody that that garage belonged with that house. Since the house was 1920s vintage, I fantasized that the original owners has been bootleggers. What might one want to escape from? Aside from freelance or official home invaders, it could be an interesting way to avoid mother-in-laws, bill collectors, or door-to-door religionists. 😉
100 different guns and sufficient ammunition for them seems about right. I’d guess he would of been looking to “bug” in rather than out unless bug out included a company of infantry.
Siginificant numbers of the same type of firearm should not be a concern either. Many collectors focus on one type of firearm and have multiple copies. Many could probably outfit a squad or two with the same firearms. Nothing crazy, just a collector paying attention to details.
In the area I live many homes and businesses are found to have tunnels leading from them. Normally they go under the border and might move some contraband, but they are tunnels. If the terrain I lived in was conducive to an escape tunnel I’d seriously consider it. If I were building a “retreat” in a new area I would work an escape tunnel into the plans. I have also lived in old houses (true colonials) that had hidden rooms, passage ways and tunnels. Great fun.
It really happened (2006 or 2007?), and I even spoke to a reporter by phone about it. She wanted to hear from a “survivalist”.
I used to have a link to the article that resulted, but it eventually disappeared from the newspaper’s site. I did find a cached copy and copied the text, but I’m not sure where it is. I’ll look for it and post it if/when I find it. Or maybe I’ll do a search for it online somewhere. (But I’m leaving the computer for a few hours so it won’t be til later.)
Found it quickly: http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_5468991
At one point, my grandfather had four guns,and about 18,000 rounds. 15,000 of that in .22, about 1500 in .308, the rest in .380 and 12 guage. He got a good deal at a surplus place or auction. My grandmother had a .32 and .410, and probably a few hundred rounds total.
I’d love to have a house with a secret tunnel/storage/living area(and equally secret entrance and exit, the exit well away from the house). And a secret escape vehicle would be cool.
An uncle of mine probably has 60 guns, and quite a few thousand rounds,as well as an extensive knife collection(probably 500 or more). He’s been collecting both for half a century..
3 guns is now a “small arsenal” in CA.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brown-guns-20110407,0,6441988.story
Kent — So does that make you a Famous Survivalist? Or how ’bout The Official Spokesman of Survivalism? LOL. So how did the reporter find and choose you for that particular task, do you know? And what did you tell her?
JPinAZ — Oh man, that is so lame. And even the governor’s own spokesthingie calls his three guns an arsenal. Even for California, that’s bad.
Scott, your relatives sound like good candidates for governor. 🙂 And I hope you’re your uncle’s favorite nephew.
Thanks for the link, Kent. And sorry about the delay in posting. For some reason, WordPress decided you were spamming. Good job on the reasonable comments in the article!
if this is the one I think it is, I know him vaguely. good man. there were some mental health issues. he’s like us, he doesn’t trust the government. the escape tunnel was a hole in the garage floor with food stored inside. the house was confiscated from the family, ya know “structurally unsound”. an “assault weapon” was found. he can’t own a gun anymore. I understand his collection was turned over to family. I’ve also heard the round count was pretty close. I’m guessing that’s also is in some police storage unit. in the peoples republic of california, it’s illegal to own that much ammo.
If I’m “famous” or “official” for anything it would be news to me. That would be scary! Hehe.
If I remember correctly, which I may not, the request for someone to speak to the reporter was posted on The Claire Files. So I emailed her and she called me.
I don’t think I actually claimed to be “a survivalist”, although I probably said I practice primitive survival skills. I seem to remember she was trying to get me to say something “sensational”. I ended up talking to her for 15 minutes or so. I was pleased that it turned out as well as it did, considering what I’ve seen happen to quotes in some cases.
In Kentucky . . . he’d be my neighbors!
🙂 -)
“… good man. there were some mental health issues. he’s like us, he doesn’t trust the government.”
Then he sounds fundamentally sane to me! 🙂 Thanks, Bob. They lost their house over this? As well as his gun rights? That’s what’s nuts. Do you know anything about how they’re doing now?
Kentucky Kid — Good neighborhood. 🙂
livin in colorado doin just fine, last I heard.
Gee, it’s obvious what’s wrong – it happened in California….enuff said right there……
Colorado will ignore him…..they’re great about that…..unfortunately the ones who shouldn’t be ignored there, still are, hence some weird people roaming around the state unbothered until they do something “public”……
I bet there’s a bunch of people out there thinking they need to buy more stuff, LOL…there’s an actual number to compare to…..
I just don’t get why it has to be GUNS that are the big indicator of craziness. Why not people who own excessive ammounts of cats or Nine Inch Nails music?
Or condiment bowls in the shape of dachshunds? There’s something not quite right about that.
Winston~ those are accepted as normal, and encouraged, on Planet California…..
Some of the USA needs to just learn that CA can’t be the “be all, end all” indicator-police of the rest of country…..most people have it figured out, it’s just the media, gov types et al who are still confused…..
Wow, 100 guns. Gee, that is my goal :-)! I’ve been slowly getting my collection of weapons to show the “US working weapons”. I’ve got an 1870’s .50-70 muzzle loader replica, an 1890’s model Krag-Jorgensen 30 cal, a 1903 model Springfield, a Lee-Enfield 1917 model replica, an M1 Grand and M1 Carbine, a M14 replica, an AR-15 and an AR-4 (M4 carbine). I am trying to find a low cost “trapdoor” Springfield to complete the set. That is on top of my other rifles, shotguns and pistols I and my wife and kids own. (about 30ish total, she brought six into the marriage and inherited another three from her father.)
When my grandfather passes, his collection of 10+ is going to be passed out to family, all of who have ten or more of their own already.
It is very easy to end up with “a lot” of guns as families are getting smaller and fewer people are interested in having weapons (or are allowed to). One of my old Platoon Sgt’s was the only boy out of three grandkids and ended up with all his grandfathers weapons, his two uncles weapons and his fathers weapons, over 80 on top of his collection. (that is where I got my Lee-Enfield and M1 Carbine). The sad thing is the powers that be will use more than one as proof that you’re nuts when they drag you in front of a jury made up of inner city folk.
I have to pass on the .50 cal, Claire. I already have a few rifles that knock me down when I fire them. Figure they’ll be good “loaners.” Big problem with the .50 is the cost of the ammo! Out of sight.
Joel Says:
May 13th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
Or condiment bowls in the shape of dachshunds? There’s something not quite right about that.
—————————————————————
ROTFLMAO
That’s a low blow Joel but F-u-u-n-n-n-n-y!
snicker – snicker
I remember this guy and thinking [at the time] that it was a damned shame that he was going to loose his stuff to the People’s Republik of Californication just because he was smart enough to turn his worthless FRN’s into truly long term storage hedge items.
Damned shame what has happened to what was once a beautiful place to live. I especially liked the northern half when I lived in that shudder“place”.
sigh
Who was it that said “The people will get the government that they allow” or something like that. [Its all of those years at sea … the sea water melted my two good memory cells. {rolls eyes} ]
Why don’t they realize that government is a vicious animal that if allowed to live at all MUST be tightly controlled or it will eat its “owners” as well as its own young.
sigh
It’s good to hear that he finally got out of there to Colorado where he can own his own personal protection tools again.
“Or condiment bowls in the shape of dachshunds? There’s something not quite right about that.”
Oh Joel. So cruel. So barbed. So true …
Just a slightly above average collection in Northern Nevada.