I really like your statistical style of analysis haha.
That said, I think one can view the question of “necessity” a couple different ways. Owning a gun is very clearly not a necessity for daily living as almost none of us exclusively hunt or forage for sustenance.
However, I view the question of necessity from a standpoint of preservation of rights and self defense. In other words, “is private gun ownership a necessity for preserving one’s autonomy?” I think the answer here is yes.
I tore my distal bicep tendon earlier this year with one handed tire flips. BPC 157 was an option but I opted for CJC-1295, starting 72 hours after surgery with a 4 week course. I wanted to get GH at ~6 out/day but that was not an option for prescription due to regulatory hurdles. My doc was perfectly willing.
Full daily protocol for first 4 week post surgery was:
10,000 IU vitamin A
500 mg vitamin C
25g zinc
10,000 IU vitamin D
Vitamin B 1, 3, 6, 12 at 2-5000 % each
Chelated copper at 4 mg
Magnesium chelate prior to bed
20 g collagen
20 g arginine
20 g glutamine
10 g HMB (could use leucine)
All in addition to normal high protein diet
CJC-1295 at ~30 mcg/kg/day (prescribed)
TRT (prescribed)
Tapered down some after 4 weeks, kept most.
My rehab was novel and will likely be published at some point by myself and my PT as a case report. I was doing banded partial tricep extensions 7 days post surgery, was benching 6 weeks post surgery with light farmer carries, pronated rows at 6 weeks, deadlifting 8 weeks post surgery, and back up to 500 at 12 weeks post (much less than normal but grip is an issue and I need to change my supinated hand, plus detrained hamstrings/low back). Bench reached the 90% normal mark at about 14 weeks ish… Farmer carries were at 365-400 lb with a trap bar at about 10 weeks (can’t remember exactly without my notes). 140 lb one arm DB rows x 6-8 reps at 14-15 weeks.
Nope not technically. Gray, but you can be sure of the quality with a prescription. Expensive though.
Some further thoughts:
This question of necessity can be further divided into aggregate or particular circumstances. I would argue that gun ownership is not a necessity in particular (i.e. individual) circumstances–one should have free will to decide as they choose whether they want to own a gun or not, regardless of the wisdom of that choice from a self defense standpoint.
However I think it is absolutely a requirement in the aggregate for the populace as a whole to have the ability to arm themselves. In other words I do believe that an armed populace is a deterrent to direct tyranny. This is not due to some “Red Dawn” type fantasy of the populace being able to show down against tanks and air power, but due to the very nature of autonomy-- if you lack the ability to procure the means to protect yourself then by definition you lack autonomy.
I would also say that the current threat of tyranny (or overreaching) is due to apathy and distraction on the part of the population instead of direct active oppression from Uncle Sam. We care more for convenience than independence, and most cannot be bothered to remember anything more recent than a few weeks ago. The historical literacy of our population is trending down and we are dramatically selfish.
There is no way to guard against this onset of tyranny entirely, but that is not the problem the 2nd amendment was created to solve. The job of the population is to erect as many barriers as possible against the onset of power hungry government and to be active and engaged. The 2nd amendment is one such barrier and was never meant to function entirely on its own (i.e. without other amendments and without an engaged population).
Put more succinctly, I believe gun ownership is a necessary but not sufficient precondition for autonomy.
I don’t favor limits, but for the sake of argument you could say:
- 1 primary big game long gun
- 1 primary small game long gun
- 1 primary big game shotgun
- 1 primary small game shotgun
- 1 handgun for self defense (concealed or open carry)
- 1 backup handgun for self defense
- 1-2 target guns for practice or skill development (could be different calibers or setups from primary choices, or test pieces to see whether you wanted to switch primary platforms… We all need to tinker)
So 6-8 a person without a collector’s license would cover pretty much all the functionality a person could want.
