What do you say when someone asks you "How Many Guns Do You Have?"

So yeah. Basically I've been asked this multiple times by family members visiting from out of town. I think my parents have been telling them about me and my cousin's trips out to the mountain. I've never gotten asked this question by a fellow gun owner because I think we all kind of know there's an unwritten rule about it, sort of a don't ask don't tell sort of thing.

Anyway, when I first started shooting I would actually tell them how many I had. Granted I don't have an arsenal like most of you guys have, but now I've decided that I simply will not let that information float around out there. I started using the analogy that because guns are so expensive, telling people how many you have is sort of like telling people how much money you have in your checking account.

It's sort of interesting though, the people who ask this question generally aren't trying to be snoopy on purpose. After a few minutes they usually confess that they have been thinking about purchasing a firearm and sort of bounce ideas off me regarding what I thought about various models. Of course I am quite a novice but I do my best to steer them in the direction where they can get more information.

Have you guys come up with a standard answer to this question?

 

It all depends on who asks. If it's someone I know well, I do the whole, eyes roll up as I run through the list in my mind so I can tell them and then watch them get the "Oh shit" look and say, "I'm not breaking into your house". For someone I don't know, or I don't think needs to know, I will say either "Just a couple" or "enough".

 

i just tell them i have one for every occasion.

 

"Overall or categorized?"

 

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Me? I just ask if they've seen Terminator 2.

And then I tell them it was my desert cache.

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Gun owners fit into two categories: Those with bits of Libertarian DNA and people that just like to have fun.

The first group takes the mention of type or quantity very seriously. The second group makes a lot of jokes.

Some of the biggest arsenals you'll see belong to the latter category, though. Goofy guys with money.

 

hehe !!!

 

Same answer I give for every question I don't feel like thinking about. 42.

 

Didn't know it was "rude" to ask. What's the big deal about telling somebody how many guns you have?

 

I hope to be at the point I can say "enough". Then again I want to say the same thing about melee weapons and armor.

 

I very proudly say, "Two. And one is mine."

What I'm really waiting for is the day some idiot asks me and I can say, "Break in my house and find out."

 

I get asked all the time because people here are not allowed to have personal firearms, well you can it just takes money, juice and patients. So when people ask I usually tell them how many I own which is often followed by "how many do you have here?" Then I get really vague and forget most of my Spanish.

 

I've seen this in action and it works.

 

Well Oregon has it's share of migrant workers and I can tell you being on the other end trying to ask questions when the person you're questioning seems to drift in and out of comprehension mode is fracking frustrating. After a while, unless it's something serious, you just give up and say "go, just go." So I guess I've been trained to some extent.

 

"Not nearly enough. Three."

 

I live in country Australia. Most people here have guns, so I don't really get asked how many, it's more 'what do you think of blah blah calibre, or blah blah brand and 'do you reload?'.

 

I usually say enough to get the job done but I always keep my eye out for the next one.

 

It depends on the person- usually I just say enough....

 

like hrdwareguy, dpends on who is asking? Some shady overly nosey dude who has no business knowing where I live? I just have the 3 I brought to the range and keep em on base, at work, 500ft below ground in a plutonium cased safe with godzilla at the guard gate.

If it's another collector, then I ask : how many of WHICH gun? And besides, its not the guns that count, its the CASES of ammo that make a man! That shit is heavy!