“6 News spoke with the owner of a local outdoor shop” who approves of Biden administration rule to “close the gun show loophole,” Johnstown PA NBC affiliate WJAC-TV reported Saturday.
“Thomas Engle is the owner of Hunter’s Warehouse in Bellefonte, and he says he supports the change, saying it puts everyone ‘on equal footing,’” the report explains. “At gun shows, he says people could buy and sell without licenses and insurances. He says background checks do not equal registration.”
“Well, a lot of people say it’s an infringement of their rights and stuff, but the problem is, the public wants to feel safe,” Engle elaborated in the accompanying video. “They want to know that a gun owner that has that gun should have the gun and isn’t a restricted individual have that gun. If you just sell – all you care about is money and you just hand somebody a gun without running that background check, you take a lot of risk in who you hand that gun to.”
“First, there is no such ‘loophole,’” Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America explained Back in 2008’s “Gun Show ‘Loophole’ Fraud: Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.”
“Existing gun laws apply just as much to gun shows as they do to any other place where guns are sold… people who are not engaged in the business of selling firearms, but who sell firearms from time to time (such as a man who sells a hunting rifle to his brother-in-law), are not required to obtain the federal license required of gun dealers or to call the FBI before completing the sale, Pratt quotes, citing attorney David V, Kopel and author Alan Korwin. “This is not a ‘gun show loophole;’ it is simply a reflection of the fact that the federal government does not require record-keeping by occasional firearms sellers who are not ‘engaged in the business.’”
Changing “engaged in the business’ changes that.
As for another bit of misinformation in the WJAC report, there is no license or insurance requirement to buy a gun in Pennsylvania.
As for Engel’s contentions, “feeling” safe is subjective and hardly something that can be imposed by government diktat, and presuming the power to do that — by adding prior restraints and permissions to a right where the only Constitutional imperative is “shall not be infringed” — can decidedly make some feel unsafe. As for wanting to know if someone with a gun “should” have it, those who shouldn’t tend to let people know. They also, per the Bureau of Justice Statistics and ATF’s “National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment,” don’t much bother going though background checks themselves. And as for the contention that “background checks do not equal registration,” not by themselves they don’t. But the records would be key to implementing that if and when Democrats ever get the votes to override a Firearms Owners/ Protection Act proscription against establishing such a system.
One would think a Federal Firearms Licensee would be in tune with gun owner reasons and sentiments for Second Amendment absolutism, especially one whose website advertises “we specialize in Paramilitary weapons, military weapons, pistols, etc.” And one would think he would be aware of and responsive to mounting criticism from gun owners angered by his public statements, evidenced by comments under the WJAC article, but especially, on his Facebook.*
You’d also think there would be an awareness of how this latest development is but another example of the government not knowing what it’s doing and responding to prohibitionist pressure when it comes to FFLs. This comment from attorney and author David T. Hardy just came in from an email discussion group I belong to, and is posted here with permission:
1968: Let’s encourage everyone to get an FFL, because FFLs have to keep records, etc. $10/yr fee, premises can be your back room, etc.
1990s: Violence Policy Center goes on crusade, there are more FFLs than filling stations, this is awful. Congress tightens requirements, majority of those with FFLs give them up.
Subsequent: people without FFLs are having “private sales” without record-keeping. A scandal!
I called Engle and identified myself, told him I wrote for AmmoLand Shooting Sports News, and asked if he would give me a for-publication quote to address gun owners upset by his media comments. He said he wasn’t aware of anyone being upset and I pointed him to Facebook. He asked my position, and I told him I was a Second Amendment absolutist. He got pretty excited or combative, I don’t know him to make that call, used “Bulls****” a few times, told me if I wanted something from him, I’d need to come down in person so he could find out who I was, and then started going through reasons why he was right. I let him know that I just wanted a quote, not a debate, that I would send him an email asking for his quote so that he could be assured I would do so completely and accurately, and that my email would have links to my work so he could check me out.
Here’s my first email:
As per our phone conversation I am following up on comments you made to the media regarding the new background check rule. As I indicated, some gun owners are quite upset, starting with posts to your Facebook.
I am writing an article for AmmoLand Shooting Sports News and am asking for a quote from you reacting to these criticisms – that way, you can be sure your words are not edited and presented exactly as you wrote them.
You can check me out with the links below.
At the end of the work day, not having heard from him, I sent a follow-up email:
I intend to submit a story this afternoon. If I don’t have a statement from you by publication time, I will include a notation at the end that you have been asked for comment and I will update the article with it if and when I receive it.
That promise stands. In the meantime, check out his responses on Facebook and they pretty much will tell you what he would have said to me. *
Benjamin Franklin is reputed to have said “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” We’ve seen similar attitudes with trainers against permit less carry. It’s surprising that a gun store owner doesn’t grok that and realize any infringement ceded to the gun prohibitionists is one less obstacle they need to overcome on their way to the end game – unless he doesn’t think that’s the plan.
* Since submitting this report, Engle has deleted critical comments and his responses from his Hunter’s Warehouse Facebook page. I took a screenshot of some of the comments before he deleted them and posted it to my War on Guns Placeholder site, but with his comments deleted the only way we’ll hear his side of things is if he chooses to reply to my email or posts about it somewhere else.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
“Thomas Engle is the owner of Hunter’s Warehouse in Bellefonte said. “Well, a lot of people say it’s an infringement of their rights and stuff, but the problem is, the public wants to feel safe,” Engle elaborated in the accompanying video. Musicman translation I am a greedy SOB and any excuse the government can come up with to put dollars in my pocket I agree with. I say I am all about the second amendment but the truth really is that I want to make as much money as I can and if that means the government tramping on your… Read more »
You’re so full of shit your eyes are brown.
Like I have said before, when the truth is spoken the left speaks up against it. Sorry if I offended you. You are saying that his article is full of shit too then. Why don’t you share that with the author instead of me?
I’d rather be full of shit than have no balls. Go ahead, make your day. Showem if you gotem.
Your original post just about mirrors my thoughts.
While it’s certainly your prerogative, personally I wouldn’t have apologized. It’s certainly not your fault some Karen is offended by written words and then masters an infantine response at best, with no reasonable explanation.
For my time, anyone not willing (or able) to back-up such a childish statement with at least some semblance of a defense isn’t worthy of debate. If words are cheap, then stupid words are free.
Besides, how does he/she know whether your eyes are brown?
Keep on keepin’ on…
If words are cheap, stupid words are free. Thanks, I hope you don’t mind me using that one. It’s one of those little sayings that just strikes me right.
Have a great day.
True story. The crux of the problem is this: progressive new left ideology is collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions. Leftists have no ‘facts’ or truth to fall back on in a debate. The first proof of that is they hurl the invective and nothing else.
Just as I thought. You are all talk and a waste of air.
Sorry I don’t spend my time waiting to reply to immediately reply to your cretinous blather. Shame you don’t have a life other than these fora. And of course you mistake my comments as directed to the author when you were my target. Go toot your horn somewhere else.
I knew you wouldn’t have the balls to do it. Your excuse is drivel and reverse of what I said. How democrat of you!!! So since it is obvious you don’t understand plain clear English, I will repeat it again since the shit floating between your ears is blocking your comprehension. I stated that if you were in argument with what I said and you make a comment to me that I am full of shit so you say, you should make the same comment to the author because he basically feels the same way about this traitorous ass. You… Read more »
And on and on and on. You’re so full of yourself you don’t need to eat for 5 years. You honestly think this is your personal sounding board.
Sorry you think that. I do enjoy helping others as well as being helped and informed. Sorry you have wasted your time but you are the one that chose to do so.
I wish we had the option of blocking certain repliers like on disqus.
It’s really easy don’t come back.
Ooooh…”fora”…we got ourselves a college boy.
If that is in fact the case I hope he got a refund of tuition.
They don’t call it Piled Higher and Deeper for nuttin’…
Rob, out of curiosity, why’d you go with the BS call against MusicMan44Mag? Yes, he’s a Trumper who forgets that Trump’s an authoritarian pig (just like Biden), but his original comment focused on boycotting the Fudd dealer. Do you disagree with that? I can separate between someone’s views on X and their views on Y, and with the view of boycotting Engle I’m in 100% agreement with MusicMan44Mag.
Hear hear!
Does the colloquial American phrase “eat shit and die” have any special meaning to you?
I had a lady I used to play music with that used to say, “eat it and live” which in her mind was much worse. I always felt it would leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Regulatory Capture. Look it up in any free market economics text.
You’re a DA rob This buddy of yours who owns the GUNstore needs to go broke. Join him in misery
I –HAD– TO LOGIN…
Just to add to the down vote…
100% correct. Sadly, this gun store needs to go out of business. Biden’s ATF will be happy to take back their FFL. 4473 forms are have been documented to contribute to the growing government registry. That’s why the firearm info was moved to the first page a few years ago. ATF inspectors have been caught on camera scanning the front page of hundreds of forms during their audits. That page includes the firearm info and the purchaser. What do we call that? A registry database.
Amen to that. The database they admitted they have and are not supposed to but somehow they twisted how they are keeping it so the rule does not apply. Typical and very confusing which is how the government likes to make and keep things.
I read here on Ammoland that they have a database that has some ungodly number on it like 340 million or something like that on record. When they admitted it, they should have been forced to destroy it.
And forced into jail cells…or mass graves.
It may have been at 340 million but Dettelbach has a team scanning and entering every record the ATF possesses which is nearly a billion. I have to suspect that the 4473s illegally photographed during inspections are also added and I am concerned about the electronic forms many FFLs now use being automatically uploaded.
Oh, we know you are right. They are not doing it for easy record keeping which they claim, they are doing it purely for tracking of the people and then the gun. They have already proven that if a person has what they consider too many guns that they go to the house and ask to see all of them because they think you are trafficking or doing straw purchases. You know nobody really needs to have 10 or 15 guns especially an honest law abiding person with no jail time, no funds owed to the IRS, never filed bankruptcy… Read more »
On this we can agree; boycott the SOB. Maybe he’ll learn, and if not we don’t need Fudds in the movement.
Money and greed motivates a lot of people.
That describes a thieving son of a bitch named Wayne Lapierre to a tee.
You name the grifter in chief of our industry.
Hmm – ” background checks do not equal registration” – really – where else did the bats amass their illegally obtained firearm transaction records? Last count was almost a BILLION of them, likely more now.
The media can always find some sellout gun store owner to carry water for their cause. Whether shall-issue permits, Constitutional (permitless) carry, open carry, or some other restoration of long ago stolen gun rights; there will always be a sellout who owns a gun store and is willing to speak against us. There have been a few that I have observed in SC who did this. Thankfully, they all went out of business. I hope this guy follows that pattern.
Remember the press is not our friend. Like my high school friend who collected rattlesnakes for Hill Hast of The Miami Serpentarium said, you;re OK as long as you remember they’re not bunny rabbits. Having said that, rule number one is, don’t wear your camo tacticool outfit to a gun show. At a gun show at Miami’s County Fair Grounds, I was checking in through all the metal detector stuff when I saw a local reporter and her camera guy doing the same. After we were inside, she looked around and made a bee line with camera in tow to… Read more »
As someone who has been involved in political campaigns from sign pounder to campaign manager for half of my adult life, your statement about the press is absolutely true. Even if you have a sympathetic or an advocate reporter, they have an editor who I guarantee will “tinker” with the reporters words until it fits the agenda du jour. You are absolutely right don’t talk to the press or if you must, make it short and direct, remember they are only looking for sound bites and snapshots. Even Mr. Codrea does the same as this article illustrates. However, Mr. Codrea… Read more »
In re soundbites and snapshots: Not the case here. As documented above, I called him. I let him know I was an absolutist right up front. I sent him two emails. I invited his complete and unedited response to online criticisms and that offer is still open. In short, I held him to the same standards for making his case that I hold myself to. That he has so far rejected that offer and deleted comments on his Facebook is on him, not me.
You go Mr. Codrea. Thanks for your articles and your efforts to keep the 2nd as it is supposed to be.
Mr. Codrea, I apologize if you thought from reading my statement that I was giving you the business, I was not. I appreciate your content and your 2A absolutism.
No problem– I just wanted to make sure it’s clear I did not go for an out of context “snapshot”– And point of order: The only people I expect to call me “Mr. Codrea” are the wife and kids, and for some reason they just laugh…
And besides; as Mr. Codrea often says, he’s not a “real reporter.”
😉
Me too (LOL at your reply.)
Good advice and reasoning!
“I believe in the Second Amendment but but but”
Usually coupled with:
“I even own a gun.”
That sounds like a double barrel shot gun owner I once heard tell me I need to go outside and fire a couple rounds into the air to scare the bad guys off! I think it was the same guy that has offered to blow me up with F15,s tactical nukes and drones.
Double barrel for me and fighter jets for him. Somehow I don’t think those odds are even.
Oh yeah, that guy that sponsored the Gun Free School Zones Act and the Assault Weapons Ban. We know who that is.
Put him in a F-15 cockpit and many problems might be solved.
Make sure the eject button isn’t working, please!!!
I figured he would crash it because he would push forward on the stick to go up!!! But extra insurance is always applicable and I am sure today, it would really be appreciated.
You know it gets me. All we heard was Trump=WAR how many years especially before he was elected?
Now we have O’bidum and we are literally closer than we ever were with President Trump.
Trump 2024
Anything that would work would be better for the USA IMO.
It’s a fair fight as long as it starts before the pilot gets into the plane.
I can’t get past this: “hand somebody a gun without running that background check, you take a lot of risk.” That sentence implies I am responsible for the actions of the buyer. That is a bullshit liability I reject.
Me too, absolutely; I have been espousing your position for years.
I FEEL the same as you, however, I do like that IF I WANT, I can go to an FFL to transfer a gun. I don’t like being forced to and I don’t think that only FFLs should be allowed to sell at a gun show. They are always sky high on prices and the free market of personal sales being a part of it is what keeps the prices fair. If only FFL’s control the sales, then they control the prices. We all know that as soon as one specific group controls something fully, prices go up. Gas, Food,… Read more »
David, I see you used the term “grok.” That must make you a fan of the late, great Robert A.Heinlein!
“A free man can take care of himself.”
This clown’s customers need to vote with their wallets and do business elsewhere.
Mr. Codrea, it is good ro wake up yo another of your fantastic articles this morning; it’s been a while, and I miss ’em.
Plenty more on his own space.
https://waronguns.com/
The “gun show loophole” is a lie repeated, Goebbels style, ad nauseum.
If you attend a gun show, you don’t have to look hard to find laptops on the tables of gun sellers, ready to conduct NICS checks on prospective buyers. They even provide a chair for the buyer to relax on, while the transaction is in progress.
But this lie is gospel with the anti-gun crowd.
Next time you’re talking to one of those “universal background check” folks, ask them to explain why the make, model, and serial number of the firearm being purchased are needed for a background check on the buyer. There have been suggestions to have a publicly accessible site where the buyer and seller can conduct an anonymous background check and get written confirmation of same. But there would be no information submitted or collected regarding the firearm being purchased. The Left rejects that idea out of hand. They don’t care so much about the background of the buyer. They do care… Read more »
Cocksucker is purely motivated by his checkbook. And “universal background checks” are completely unenforceable without UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION.
Thats the problem with any industry that licenses it’s participants; they develop a stranglehold on that industry, rather than allowing a free, healthy market.
The problem has an easy fix: if you have not been confined to a cage by our justice system, you may purchase and posess ANY GUN you fucking want.
If it was really about “feeling safe” and background checks, the ATF would provide free background checks at gun shows for private sellers, unfortunately it’s all about the $.
Better yet they could allow NICS access to all. Instead they choose to protect the privacy of criminals with records.
True! They could take the guys on surveillance detail at any gun show and put them at a table with a computer and do this valuable service.
No one should shop there ever again.
JABF: Just Another Boomer Fudd. We’ve seen this type before… The best thing we can do is not patronize them in any way!
These are the same bozos that still defend Wayne LaPierre. Just give it a few years, and they will go the way of the dodo bird.
Every concession/compromise with the anti 2nd Amendment crowd moves 2nd Amendment supporters closer to the cliff the antis are trying to push you over….
This seems prophetic like we can’t buy,sell, barter without the Mark of the Beast.
You are calling it for what it is.
Thank You Musicman ! I appreciate and value your comments and contributions. Although it disgusts me to see you receiving the repetitive down votes, we all know it is that flak over the target thing.
Pay no mind to the votes. Like you, others have mentioned their disgust with them and realize it is all part of a person/group that got their panties in a bunch when I called them out on their lies, or their “do as I say not as I do BS” etc.. I logically analyze and look at it this way. Everyone who is has been here should know what is going on but there are ones that want to see it continue because they like discord. The end result of their action is they get more down votes than I… Read more »
You’re the best!
Gun shows, when they were created, eventually afforded the opportunity for the businessman to market his merchandise to a broader community base… Reaching beyond his brick and mortar edifice. Farmers mostly, got together and began selling firearms acquired in good times, to cover a recent bad patch. In Ohio approximately 1974, an issue of government versus the private sale of firearms arose, the ruling expressly stated … “… that the private transactions between citizens was to be treated as sacred and sacrosanct”. I have no problem using case law understanding, when the case was ruled correctly, and with the citizen… Read more »
Haven’t heard from you in a while. Thanks for your 2 cents, you never fail to see the truth in things and share what needs to be shared at the right time.
Take care.
Very kind of you. Thank you so much.
Fare thee well – Ram
@Ram If you can cite the case, I’d like to read it.
The memory of a now old Ram can remember reading
the information. Determining the time period was a bit of a guess.
I distinctly remember it being a supreme court decision, Because
I have never heard anyone refer to it, assures me that it was a
state supreme court ruling. I just knew that the utterance of
“sacred and sacrosanct” had a value to posterity. – Ram
Imagine the uproar if this sort of rule making were applied in other areas.
Selling a home, car, food that you grew, and so on.
That might be where they are headed next but first they need to change the currency to digital so they know what you are doing then they can prove you are conducting business without a license.
Barter system, we need to get it going now to start to circumvent the masters just like they do the Bruen decision.
The part I like best about Thomas is his lips can reach my a$$ and mine can’t .
If people just continue to deal in private firearm transactions like they have for many decades ,and keep their mouths shut ,how would Biden and his gun-grabbing sissy’s know a damn thing about it? They wouldn’t ! Maybe they need another rule to figure that out!
Maybe they need to stop, back off and study what happened with the alcohol prohibition effort. It just wouldn’t, couldn’t work. Even amending the Constitution wouldn’t make it work.
Having had decades of personal experience w/those who seek to control us / gun-grabbers, it is commonplace for ATF Agents, or those they’ve coerced into service, or members of anti-2A orgs. or anti-2A elected members of local City Councils and State Legislatures, to peruse their local Gunshows to observe / monitor firearm transactions, private sales ( non FFL sellers ) in particular. If the sale is done from the private sellers home, should the firearm sold be recovered @ a crime scene or in the possession of a disqualified owner ( felon ) and the firearm sold was originally purchased… Read more »
Thomas Engle, owner of Hunter’s Warehouse in Bellefonte, PA., is a textbook example of the quintessential quisling. Cowards of his calibre deserve nothing but scorn as do those who continue to patronize his establishment.
People like this are why we have so many infringements. The Butters and Fudds are always willing to “compromise” our rights away. Unfortunately, the gun community is full of them. If every gun owner actually was a 2A absolutist then it would be impossible for the anti-gunners to enact any anti-2A legislation. They simply wouldn’t have the numbers. Voting records are easily verifiable, and if you don’t believe me then I challenge you to find a single arms law that was enacted without a Republican vote. Unfortunately, there are many in our industry (I have been a dealer for over… Read more »
People like this idiot is what hurts the 2nd Amendment fight.
It’s this mentality that destroyed NJ when the hunters have politicians the room to decimate anything 2nd Amendment there.
This guy is a fucking asshole.
THERE’S a gun/sporting shop I won’t waste my time or money on.
I’d be afraid that he’d roll over for the BATFEces and give them my PII 4473 Just. Because.
You can take it to the bank that a quisling like Engle will give to the Govt. whatever he has to – including his soul which he already has – to curry their favour. He is not to be trusted. Period.
Is .Engle saying all Gunowners are Legal or only Legal Gunowners are legal or does He only pedal to Criminal Gunowners.
Anyone who trades a little bit of liberty for a little bit of security deserves neither. But on to the point: the industry has its share of grifters. There is actually a technical term in Macroeconomics to describe this kind of attitude: Regulatory Capture. Folks who run corporations love to restrict and eliminate competition. One of the most effective ways to do this is employ the regulatory powers of government to make life difficult or impossible on potential competitors. This is one such case. This guy sees gun shows and private sales as competition and wants the state to crush… Read more »
You are absolutely right. During Prohibition the Brewers distanced themselves from the Distillers, both parties trying to survive. All the while the government ignoring the fact that there will always be someone that says I’ve got what you want, step around the corner.
““Thomas Engle is the owner of Hunter’s Warehouse in Bellefonte, and he says he supports the change, saying it puts everyone ‘on equal footing,’” the report explains. “At gun shows, he says people could buy and sell without licenses and insurances. He says background checks do not equal registration.”” Mr. Engle no matter how IGNORANT or SIMPLE he is has the right to his OPINION — EVEN WHEN IT IS WRONG!! This brings to mind the song; “Feelings, Feelings, nothing but feelings”. FEEL SAFE? SAFETY IS IN THE HANDS OF THE INDIVIDUAL — SO STATED SCOTUS!! I DEMAND the government… Read more »
This guy must have been PT Barnum’s first customer.
PA pro-gunners need to boycott, put Hunter’s Warehouse in Bellefonte out of business. Let the owner sell gender confused nose rings for a living….
As a libertarian and believer in the free market, hopefully this guy experiences some repercussions. Andy at Engage Armament (from whom I bought my SAM7 before the blowup a decade ago) learned his lesson, maybe this guy will too. Otherwise, we’ve no need for Fudds in the movement and the market will decide.
David, Another superb article pointing out that the fudds amongst the so-called gun community are the worst enemies we face: they give ‘aid and comfort’ to an existential enemy. I’m wanted to move to Maine for my final retirement, but that state has turned into another Democratic People’s Republic dictatorial totalitarian state. The lyrics from one of Joni Mitchell’s finest songs she ever sang incorporate much of the sentiment I’m feeling about this: “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Thank you again for all the hard work you do to keep all of us out here in… Read more »
Suspect Mr. Engle is not the only FFL who has concerns about the transfer of firearms without background checks. His comment that “hand[ing] somebody a gun without running that background check, you take a lot of risk in who you hand that gun to” makes a lot of sense to me. Truth be known, I also suspect many FFLs have private concerns about firearms transfers to some jokers even after they pass the checks. And to say there is no gun show loophole defies understanding. If I can buy a gun at a gun show from some guy who wandered… Read more »
You’re not paying attention. It’s not a loophole. A loophole is a hole in a law that was/is unintentional: i.e. a mistake made by the legislature that maybe should be fixed. The private sale language in GCA68 is a deliberate carve out that Congress put there to exempt the guy who buys or sells sells a few guns a year. It isn’t associated with gun shows. The language of GCA68 applies to all gun sales regardless of where they might occur. The requirement that one who is engaged in the business of buying and selling guns have an FFL applies… Read more »
If I want to sell a gun to my brother-in-law or give an ancient .22 Remington rifle to my grandson there should be no need for a background check. The guns belong to me. It should be no different than if I want to sell or gift a hammer and saw. I want to sell or gift my property to another. Why should the government insinuate itself into my personal business? We have become much too complacent about government intrusion into our life. Someone could make the argument that hammers have been used to beat people to death and saws… Read more »
Today, here in the BLUE STATE of OREGONEISTAN you can still give guns to family members so long as they are not felons. Today!
You may be able to do that today. But FJB wants to make EVERY gun sale/gift require a background check.
I know. This is way beyond ridiculous. The 2nd is there for one reason only which is to tell our government by and for the people that our right shall not be infringed. The fact that they are doing it on a daily basis and getting away with it shows that it is now by the government and for the government, all of which needs to and SHALL change and I think it will be in short order.
Time will tell.
He does not understand the plain text of “eat shit and die”.
Any FFL has the right and responsibility to decline a sale to a suspect customer for ANY reason, even if the customer passed the background check. So that’s not a valid concern. Maybe if NICS data was known to be correct with no false denials, then I might consider an argument that it makes us safer. But, please never confuse FEELING safe with actually BEING safer. Quite often they are in direct contrast.
Agreed, well stated. Want to feel safe? Buy a gun.
Or a couple hundred of ’em.
Multiple guns for multiple reasons. I don’t use a 5.56 for elk or any big game and I wouldn’t use that to shoot a bird out of the sky.
The more the merrier because many are needed for multiple reasons. Man cannot live by AR alone but having one sure helps when you have gangbangers doing a home invasion robbery.