Firearms and Numbers

[sksmith75]

Being a guy that likes to look at things from a numbers perspective (it's the engineer in me), I try to get a relative feel for the magnitude of things to see if they make sense. I call it a sniff test.

The other day, I was looking at some information on the size of active armed forces for different countries of the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...f_armed_forces

People's Republic of China tops the list with 2.250 million, followed by the US at 1.852 million. Then it dawned on me that the US has over 80 million firearm owners and all that would have to happen is just 3% resist an effort to confiscate them and we'd have more folks than the ChiComs.

Admittedly, this isn't an apple to apple comparison, but I think it does give a good perspective of the relative magnitude of the situation. Sometimes it seems as if we're a small group, huddled against the socialists/communists that have executed a fifty year plan to take over the country, but the numbers don't support that.

It occurs to me that an appropriate response to anyone suggesting gun registration/confiscation should quote Mr. Eastwood; "go ahead, punk, make my day." We have the numbers.

Oh yeah, don't forget even commies can do math, they know, they just act like THEY have the numbers, but we know better.

Just my not so humble opinion.

[General Geoff]

Every other small arm on the planet (including those issued to all the military forces across the globe), is owned by a private citizen in the United States.

[Lone Wolf]

Totally agree about "us" having the numbers, but I get frustrated because, at times, it seems like we are just a few voices.

[Brick]

A pretty interesting notion, but there's a few other things you should try to look at also beside raw numbers. First the total military forces number is not a direct relation to the number of combat troops. It includes air and naval forces many that probably won't be in direct combat. You also need to look at the "tooth to tail" relationship among the ground forces. For example, Infantry, Armor (including cav) and Artillery are primary combat troops, the others are combat support or combat service support. At any echelon in our military there are significant numbers of soldiers who are not normally in direct combat, but serve in support of those who are. You also have to look at the "mobization" potential of a country. Did you know that WWII Germany fielded 100+ Army divisions?

Then there's the question of industrial mobilizaton. And that is one we haven't considered since 1945. Where's our steel industry? How many plants exist that are or can manufacture artillery pieces? Small Arms? How many square feet of factory floor space is currently dedicated to the manufacture of tanks?

Sorry I don't mean to boor you or anything, I almost wish it were as simple as "we have so many men, rifles, bayonets and cartridges". In fact I almost wish we could go back to fighting with swords and spears. Not trying to be defeatist, I'm just trying to get you to understand that our defense depends on a concerted effort at all levels of our country. It requires our leaders to do something they haven't seemed capable of in many years, ANALYTICAL THOUGHT!

[tes151]

Like I said in another thread somewhere, this is NOT the UK. If the powers that be in Washington ever get stupid enough to try and confiscate all the guns, they will be in for a major surprise.

[Warpt762x39]

You've all heard of the "gun lobby" right? Guess what boys and girls. That gun lobby is us.

The media wants people to think that like oil and tobacco industries, we have professional lobbyists handling the politcal side of things. Wrong.

Gun companies, even the biggest, are nowhere near as big as say Exxon or even McDonalds.

The one thing the media does portray correctly is that we are a powerful lobby. I don't care who you are, if even a portion of American gun owners vote against you in any election, you'll lose.

I honestly cannot think of another interest group in this country with larger numbers. If someone else can, do tell. I'd love to know.

You would have to mention religious groups or a specific race to get these numbers and even that would be hard.

Like it was said before, we outnumber just about everyone. We can and should be this countries biggest defender of all freedoms. We need all 80+ million of us to stand together. That is a point nobody can ever miss.

[knight0334]

There's a saying around here that goes like this,

"Pennsylvania has the 6th largest army in the world the first Monday after Thanksgiving."

[wa3ra]

"One cannot think to invade the United States. There is a weapon behind every blade of grass"...

[Legion_Prime]

None of that really matters though, why? Because we got the bomb! Two words Nuclear fuckin Weapons okay? Russia, Germany, Romania they can have all the democracy they want. They can have a big democracy cakewalk right through the middle of Tiananmen Square and it wont make a lick of difference because we've got the bombs, OK?

[smithwessn]

I don't care who you are, if even a portion of American gun owners vote against you in any election, you'll lose.

If this were true, Barry wouldn't be in the White House right now...