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You are here: Home / Politics / Gun Issues / Open Thread: Collectors, or Hoarders?

Open Thread: Collectors, or Hoarders?

by Anne Laurie|  May 31, 202212:07 am| 94 Comments

This post is in: Gun Issues, Open Threads, Politics

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There’s all kinds of arguments to be made about whether Collector Personality is the socio-evolutionary result of our descent from only the most successful hunter-gatherers, or a form of OCD shading into anxiety disorder, or where the line between those states is drawn. But honestly — I *am* a Collector, and couldn’t these people just (re)focus on some less deadly toys?

(I suppose you could smash a collector plate and use it as a weapon, or smother someone in a pile of fabric quarters, but… )

I think the maddest I ever made gun people was when I pointed out an assault rifle and a Prada bag have the same price range.

— The Substack of Boba Fett (@agraybee) May 30, 2022



also what a fucking haul if you're a burglar. valuable, easily portable, durable with a long shelf life you can hang onto while heat dies down, and sustained demand both nationally and globally. I would 100% actively target these people's houses if that was how I made my money.

— William B. Fuckley (@opinonhaver) May 29, 2022

The derisive term I’ve heard in other collector circles: X is not a collector, just a [stamp] slut…

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Reader Interactions

94Comments

  1. 1.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:10 pm

    So happy I just collect stamps, and books, and DVDs, and CDs, and shit.

  2. 2.

    Suzanne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:14 pm

    I had a friend (emphasis on HAD) who is a gun nut, along with her husband. She also was miserable about her lack of career success (despite being pretty lazy). She complained on multiple occasions that she never had enough money to travel. I pointed out that they could sell some of the arsenal and go on a great trip.

  3. 3.

    debbie

    May 30, 2022 at 8:14 pm

    How did you miss this beauty, Ann Laurie?

    What do you see? pic.twitter.com/diKkIYaatZ
    — Mystery Solvent (@MysterySolvent) May 3, 2022

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    May 30, 2022 at 8:15 pm

    I’ve never had the impulse to collect, well, anything. And these people aren’t “collectors”. They’re hoarders. What the fuck do they think they’re going to do with all these guns? Or is the point just to collect the most penile replacements?

  5. 5.

    Suzanne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:17 pm

    I think the maddest I ever made gun people was when I pointed out an assault rifle and a Prada bag have the same price range.

    Perfect example of the things men like are sensible and necessary and serious business, but women’s stuff is shallow and dumb.

  6. 6.

    David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch

    May 30, 2022 at 8:17 pm

    Guns don’t kill….. it’s those darn doors

  7. 7.

    RevRick

    May 30, 2022 at 8:18 pm

    My wife and I mostly collect dust, but we’re kinda lazy.

    But you have to marvel, in a horrified sort of way, at the level of paranoia that must be bouncing around between these peoples’ ears. They imagine hordes coming to kill them and build the modern-day equivalents of moats. But the thing is they aren’t worth the bus far to get to their place. And more importantly, when disaster strikes, people band together to help one another. But they can have fun gnawing on their guns for nourishment.

  8. 8.

    Suzanne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:19 pm

    @Yutsano: I don’t like the aesthetics of collecting. I don’t like CLUTTER. This all looks like CLUTTER.

    Murderous, deadly, insane, treasonous clutter.

  9. 9.

    The Thin Black Duke

    May 30, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    These assclowns spent their kids college tuition on guns.

  10. 10.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 30, 2022 at 8:24 pm

    Seriously, how is that guy 44?!

  11. 11.

    Starfish

    May 30, 2022 at 8:24 pm

    These images are from the book The Ameriguns.

  12. 12.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 30, 2022 at 8:24 pm

    I quickly scanned that thread earlier today, and there was one couple that said they spend $2,500/mo on *ammo.* Spend $2,500/mo on guns, and you may have an asset with at least theoretical resale value. Spend $2,500/mo on ammo and you have nothing. I mean, choose your hobby, I guess, but that’s $30k per year literally up in smoke.

  13. 13.

    piratedan

    May 30, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    always thought that collecting/hoarding was mostly about attempting to stay connected to artists, voices, things that actually mattered to you… be it a first taste of grape nehi from a ice cold bottle and the way that it made you feel or an author or a painting or a song that spoke to you and encapsulated a feeling and a moment that you treasure or had an epiphany to or what have you and then surrounding yourself with similar or said same items that struck that same chord.

    ymmv….

    in some strange way I think its related to wanting to capture and control that feeling so you never lose it or that feeling.

  14. 14.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    May 30, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    @Suzanne: Perfect example of the things men like are sensible and necessary and serious business, but women’s stuff is shallow and dumb.

    Don’t be making fun of an old man’s model trains. It took me him many years and hard work to gather all that stuff. And some of it is real collector’s items, damn near worth almost what I he paid for it.

  15. 15.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 30, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Ever watched American Pickers? Cool stuff that gets found, but god all of the people that are visited are hoarders. Entire barns, sometimes warehouses full of everything you can imagine, most of it junk

  16. 16.

    The Thin Black Duke

    May 30, 2022 at 8:26 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I actually might start hoarding DVDs. Physical media is disappearing. When I was at a Savers the other day, I saw a brand-new Blu-ray DVD player for sale. Twenty-five bucks. Redbox recently announced that they’re downsizing the number of kioks out on the streets.

  17. 17.

    Starfish

    May 30, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Is bragging about how much you spend on ammo a month like bragging about your Bored Ape NFT?

  18. 18.

    JWR

    May 30, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    These people are like the Joe Bonamassa, (rabid guitar player/collector), of the gun nut set.

    Srsly. Do a Google image search for “Joe Bonamassa guitar collection” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

  19. 19.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 30, 2022 at 8:27 pm

    And if WaterGirl is reading, there’s something funky about the embedded Tweets. The first one is not clickable, the second one is, then the third one isn’t, and then it gets inconsistent.

  20. 20.

    Scout211

    May 30, 2022 at 8:30 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I think they are still doing partial screenshots for the tweets on the front page.

  21. 21.

    Kelly

    May 30, 2022 at 8:30 pm

    @Starfish: These images are from the book The Ameriguns.

    “Oregunian” is popular on t-shirts and pickup decals here in the Beaver state.

  22. 22.

    jackmac

    May 30, 2022 at 8:30 pm

    These gun humpers are indeed freaks.

  23. 23.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    May 30, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:  And if WaterGirl is reading, there’s something funky about the embedded Tweets. The first one is not clickable, the second one is, then the third one isn’t, and then it gets inconsistent.

    Yep. All the Tweets that are right side offset are not embedded.

  24. 24.

    Suzanne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Hoarding and firearms is a sore subject for me right now. Not just because of the tragic events of the last couple of weeks.

    I posted how, just over two weeks ago, the house two doors down from mine caught on fire. It was a really bad fire. The owners of the home are an elderly couple who have lived in this neighborhood since God was a child, and they are hoarders. Well, apparently they were hoarding shit tons of ammunition, and the heat of the fire was making it go off. The firefighters were in extra danger because they couldn’t get through the hoarder piles of crap all through their house, and then they got in there and there was ammo going off. And these are old people who are both struggling enough with their mobility that they just had a wheelchair lift put in just to get to the front door. So this is dangerous bullshit.

  25. 25.

    Another Scott

    May 30, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    I’ve mentioned before that my favorite uncle growing up was a life member of the NRA, had a 3-pounder cannon (that he would fire at artillery ranges) and a bunch of guns.  Handguns of various kinds, shotguns, rifles, an over-under (combination rifle and shotgun), etc.  He reloaded shotgun shells and must have had lots of various kinds of ammo in the house.

    But he didn’t have anything like an AR-15, let alone multiple copies of any them.

    He didn’t feel the need to be armed all the time, either.

    There’s something broken with a lot of these people that Galimberti found and documented in his The Ameriguns project.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  26. 26.

    Scout211

    May 30, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    @debbie:

    Oh my.

    Did you see the responses to that Twitter pic? One person said the female looks like she went to Melania’s kidney doctor.

  27. 27.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 30, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I’d be curious to know how much $2,500 can buy of ammo; how far that would go

    Looking around here, it looks like a few hundred dollars can buy 1000 rounds of 9mm, the most popular ammo type in the US

    I can think of better things to spend $2,500 on. A few months worth of that, I’d rather buy a motorcycle

  28. 28.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    Got collection?

    :)

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:36 pm

    I feel sick to my stomach, quite literally, at the sight of those dozens and scores of guns artfully arranged on patios and porches and driveways. Sickening. Stomach-lurching.

  30. 30.

    JoyceH

    May 30, 2022 at 8:36 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Ever watched American Pickers? Cool stuff that gets found, but God all of the people that are visited are hoarders. Entire barns, sometimes warehouses full of everything you can imagine, most of it junk

    Well, most of the stuff they bought from them and turned over was also junk!

    Tell you the day I gave up on that show. Was watching an episode, and they were going over some character’s accumulation. One of the pair (the shorter one, can’t remember their names) had come across some old advertising sign and was rhapsodizing about it. While I’m on the edge of my seat, muttering, “Turn around. Turn. around! There’s a piece of vintage Rookwood on the shelf right behind you!”

    I honestly thought this was a scripted bit, that the guy would happen to glance over, do a big ol’ double-take, and Discover the Rookwood. But no. He just went on and on about this stupid old rusty sign that he was planning to pay $10 for and maybe get $25. So not only the on-screen actors, but also the whole production staff missed a piece of pottery worth at least hundreds of dollars and probably well over a thousand.

    I was all into ‘picking’ at the time, at least going to auctions for stuff I could resell on eBay, but it became clear that I wasn’t going to learn anything new from those characters.

  31. 31.

    zhena gogolia

    May 30, 2022 at 8:37 pm

    @Suzanne: ugh.

    I collected Shirley Temple sheet music for a while. Some great 1930s songwriters wrote for her. It doesn’t take up much space. And it doesn’t kill anyone.

  32. 32.

    trollhattan

    May 30, 2022 at 8:40 pm

    Sell a few of those fuckin’ guns “Joel” and paint the fuckin’ house before it falls down on account of all that weight.

    Oh, the boy is a total dork who will never have a date.

  33. 33.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:41 pm

    I’ve mentioned before, but worth noting the irony once again: On my father’s mother’s side of the family, the surname is GUNN; and on my mother’s father’s side of the family, the surname is CANNON.

    And I hate firearms of every size and description. Seems like being a traitor to my ancestors, but I can’t help that.

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    May 30, 2022 at 8:42 pm

    @trollhattan: They cropped “Joel”‘s picture in the tweet.  There are more guns laid out on the roof.

    !!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    Joe Falco

    May 30, 2022 at 8:42 pm

    I used to do a little bit of collecting. Nowadays, I go through some of my things and think it would be better being given to Goodwill. After six years of being in a pretty bad situation, I am trying to focus on de-cluttering my life instead of being weighed down with material possessions.

  36. 36.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I collected Shirley Temple sheet music for a while.

    That is a way cool thing to collect!

    [Strolls off, whistling “Animal crackers in my soup…”]

  37. 37.

    Anne Laurie

    May 30, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: The ones you can’t click on are screenshots.

    More than 3 embedded tweets (this week’s limit) makes FYWP unhappy, and the post takes forever to load.

    But I wanna share!

  38. 38.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:45 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Well, you wouldn’t want anyone to think they were out of control, now would you?

  39. 39.

    Suzanne

    May 30, 2022 at 8:46 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I have one china cabinet with some Classic Century (designed by Eva Zeisel) and Blue Fjord. I am a potter, so I do enjoy beautiful dishes. I don’t use them, I just look at them. That’s really the extent of my collecting.

    Though Mr. Suzanne would say that I collect toss pillows.

  40. 40.

    Gvg

    May 30, 2022 at 8:47 pm

    My uncle has a ton of guns. He didn’t pay list for most of them. He buys from other gun collectors who need the money. Let’s them buy it back if they get the money together in a reasonable time. Also won some street racing in his youth. There is a whole culture tied up with things like gambling, cars and other things. a lot of these gun nuts are terrible at financial wisdom. I don’t think uncle is the greatest either but he is better than most around him so he didn’t lose too much. Frankly I think saving the money would have been smarter…except my aunt spends if she has it and her purchases are gone, not holding some value, but she leaves “his” guns alone and gives him gift cards etc. I don’t think he calculated it, but when I think of it, maybe that worked ok.

    Still I get a second hand view and I think a lot of them are um problematic mentally. Even he has had his issues. Vietnam vet PST really bad for years, survived it due to stable marriage. But I think the appeal for many is the daydream of being a hero, saving someone, saving their family, being important. It’s not exactly bullshit, they really need to believe those guns will one day enable them to save the day. Banal lives I guess. They don’t want to see realistic odds.

    Also he taught me to never boast or mention the gun collection so that burglars wouldn’t target the house. He has them in safes which are hundreds of pounds and hard to move into the house. They used to raise Great Danes so never been robbed. Some gun control people propose things like requiring public notice if you have a certain number of guns, like those maps of child molesters in your neighborhood. That idea is terrible because they would all get stolen and we’d have more black market guns. I like insurance requirements and ammo safes. I’d like licenses with tests for safety.

    My cousin stopped hunting with other people because of too much carelessness and even drinking among his friends. I think we should not permit people with drinking offenses to own guns for example.

  41. 41.

    trollhattan

    May 30, 2022 at 8:48 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Cleaning out the house after my buddy’s FIL died the most notable categories were his porno collection and his ammo. The first went to the dump but what about the second? They called the sheriff’s dept (this was Nevada County, CA) and a deputy eventually visits and after looking at the amount he declared that it was too much to haul away. They eventually prevailed and loaded it up into the car, which apparently scraped its tail leaving the house from all that weight.

    FIL also bought land in Modoc County to escape fallout from the coming nuclear war. Built a big shed but after many failed attempts and some very deep borings, gave up on finding water. Lots of sagebrush, though.

  42. 42.

    SpaceUnit

    May 30, 2022 at 8:52 pm

    Nitpicking, but I keep seeing guns referred to as ‘deadly toys’.

    To these bozos they are symbols of their grievance, hate and paranoid world view.  And absolutely sacred.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    May 30, 2022 at 8:53 pm

    A really cruel trick would be to give Joel and Lynne’s kids some toy guns to play with.

  44. 44.

    FlyingToaster

    May 30, 2022 at 8:55 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Aren’t some of them screenshots because embedded tweets break FYWP?

  45. 45.

    debbie

    May 30, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    @Scout211:

    I was more impressed by her Kinkade-type tattoos.  //

  46. 46.

    zhena gogolia

    May 30, 2022 at 9:00 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Ray Henderson! My favorite is Harry Revel.

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2022 at 9:07 pm

    ‘@zhena gogolia

    When it came to belting out a tune, Temple was no Rose Marie.

    :)

  48. 48.

    JWR

    May 30, 2022 at 9:10 pm

    If only we didn’t have that damn 2A. At least not the current and past  “Originalist” interpretation of same:

    TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government introduced legislation Monday that would put a freeze on importing, buying or selling handguns.

    “We are capping the number of handguns in this country,” Trudeau said.

    The regulations to halt the growth of personally owned handguns is expected to be enacted this fall.

    “It will be illegal to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada,” the prime minister said. Families of shooting victims joined him at a press conference in Ottawa.

  49. 49.

    JaneE

    May 30, 2022 at 9:10 pm

    I am not really a hoarder, but I suffer from an extreme inability to throw anything away if it can still be used, multiplied by 100 if the item in question has sentimental value as well.  Case in point the dishtowels that were “too good to get rid of” when my mom died: I pulled them out again, 20 years later, and they have holes in them the size of silver dollars – the Ike series.

    I have guns that belonged to my parents, and two of them were gifts from their grandparents.  At least 30 years since any have been fired, and probably closer to 60 for the rifle and the shotgun.  I suppose I could check to see if there is a market for really old guns in unknown condition, but there are memories attached that I am not ready to let go of.

    Gun collection, 6, if you count the CO2 pellet so old it looks like a real gun.

  50. 50.

    CaseyL

    May 30, 2022 at 9:14 pm

    I would collect antique medical and scientific equipment if I a)  could afford to, and b) had anywhere to put it. Because that stuff is fascinating and cool to me.  I imagine most collecting starts out like that, liking a category of things because you find them interesting and beautiful.  Then for some people the impulse gets competely out of hand and they decide they must have ALL the things, and become hoarders.

  51. 51.

    jl

    May 30, 2022 at 9:16 pm

    FEMA has a design guide for gun safes, safe rooms and disaster shelters, and combos thereof.

    FEMA, the gun nut survivalists best friend! Or… is it a tarp set by the dirty fed rats!!??

    Risk Management Series
    Design Guidance for Shelters and Safe Rooms
    FEMA 453 / May 2006

    https://www.fema.gov/pdf/plan/prevent/rms/453/fema453.pdf

  52. 52.

    kalakal

    May 30, 2022 at 9:16 pm

    I’ll ‘fess up to a certain amount of hoarding/collecting myself with regard to books & music*. Mostly hoarding, with one exception – English Invasion literature**- it’s really hoarding, there’s no theme or focus to. I don’t get it with the people in the pictures, it’s just a random selection of tools and as for silicon lady I really don’t want to know what that’s about. I can understand collectors but these people aren’t collectors. They’re hoarders and their choice of items to hoard is very disturbing.

    *and musical instruments

    ** This stuff

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_literature

  53. 53.

    Ohio Mom

    May 30, 2022 at 9:17 pm

    I can’t get over how much money these people have spent on their gun collections. Boggles my mind.

    Feel sorry for the children of that fellow who is leaving his collection to them. I see nothing but squabbling ahead. One is going to be mad that the other got that particular gun, then whoever gets assigned to selling the extras is always going to be accused of not getting top price, that’s a grudge that will last forever.

  54. 54.

    Alison Rose

    May 30, 2022 at 9:17 pm

    Very OT, but my friend’s dog got away from her earlier today and they’re still trying to find her. If any of you either live in or know anyone in the UP in Michigan (specifically near Newberry/Manistique/Blaney Park) please keep an eye out for Rosie. She is chipped, so my hope is someone will be able to nab her and bring her into a local shelter where they can scan the chip.

  55. 55.

    zhena gogolia

    May 30, 2022 at 9:19 pm

    @NotMax: I’ll take Shirley any day. Here’s “Come and Get Your Happiness,” by Sam Pokrass, who before he emigrated also wrote “The Red Army Is Stronger than Any Other.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaC68LFGd_g

  56. 56.

    jl

    May 30, 2022 at 9:20 pm

    Maybe I should send the FEMA guide to a gun nut survivalist relative who thinks it’s best to hide guns all around the house, because you never know when the dark side will crash through the walls. But he would definitely think it was a trap.

    The other gun nut keeps his armory in a fancy Fort Knox style gun safe that’s big enough for a studio apartment. He has retained some common sense.

  57. 57.

    Suzanne

    May 30, 2022 at 9:21 pm

    O/T, but one of my neighbors bought a hilarious flag. This neighborhood is 75% Dem/25% Republican, but there’s a couple of houses that fly TRUMP 2020 flags. Anyway, a neighbor down the street from them got a giant flag that looks like theirs, but says TRUMP LOST LOL. I want to make their acquaintance.

  58. 58.

    zhena gogolia

    May 30, 2022 at 9:24 pm

    @Suzanne: Oh, yeah!

  59. 59.

    Ab

    May 30, 2022 at 9:40 pm

    If Joel and Lynne were Black, how long after publishing would it have been until Children’s Services got an anonymous tip that they should do a welfare check?

  60. 60.

    realbtl

    May 30, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    Wait a minute collecting guitars doesn’t really count.  Says the man with (looking around the room) um 8.  But they are for different things you see.

  61. 61.

    James E Powell

    May 30, 2022 at 9:49 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    It’s guitars and effects pedals for me.

  62. 62.

    Suzanne

    May 30, 2022 at 9:52 pm

    Also does Joel live inside a cigarette

    So some friends and I were just discussing this due to that Twitter thread that circulated showing different actors from the 50s through the 80s with their ages. They all looked freakishly old. Part of it was certainly the styles of clothing and hair. But also, most of them just looked so wrinkly. There was even a picture of Kelsey Grammer on Cheers, and he was apparently only 29 at the time. I would have figured him for about twenty years older than that.

    We guessed that the decline of smoking, better skin care (including sunblock), and teeth whitening have all made a difference. I also noted that hair dye is part of it, but that doesn’t help the wrinkliness. I know some of my friends have tried Botox, but even the ones that don’t look much better.

  63. 63.

    James E Powell

    May 30, 2022 at 9:52 pm

    @realbtl:

    I’ve spent the last two weeks staring at potential No. 9 on reverb. It’s an early 80s Led Paul just like the one I owned for 15 years and rarely ever played.

  64. 64.

    JWR

    May 30, 2022 at 9:57 pm

    @realbtl: I hear you. I’ve played since age 9, and I have 4 nice electric players, 1 really nice bass, a few 6 string acoustics, (to include my dad’s groovy, early 1960’s Kay Archtop!), and one really cool, Mexican made 12 string, and that’s plenty enough for me. As far as guns, I haven’t a one.

  65. 65.

    kalakal

    May 30, 2022 at 9:57 pm

    @realbtl: couldn’t agree more.  All guitars have their own character. That and overdrive pedals. And I certainly don’t have too many, oh no

  66. 66.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 30, 2022 at 10:00 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Oh geez! I wouldn’t have wanted to be one of those firefighters

  67. 67.

    JWR

    May 30, 2022 at 10:07 pm

    @James E Powell: I kick myself for not buying a friends 1970s Gibson Recording guitar for $400(!) I did buy his Marshall 4145, (4X10 100w combo), but not his mid-70’s Antigua hard-tail Strat. Could have had all three for a measly $1600! (And now I’m off to kick myself again!)

  68. 68.

    columbusqueen

    May 30, 2022 at 10:14 pm

    Books above all, CDs, DVDs, dolls (Alexanders, Barbies, Funko Pops, & Santas), and small batches of other stuff like stamps and maps. Yes, I have way too much stuff. But guns? Idiotic & unnecessary.  I don’t see any artistic or intellectual value in them.

  69. 69.

    Just One More Canuck

    May 30, 2022 at 10:15 pm

    Does the gun closet up top lock from the outside?

  70. 70.

    Time Travelin

    May 30, 2022 at 10:16 pm

    I collect doors, so bring it on, gun nuts.

  71. 71.

    divF

    May 30, 2022 at 10:18 pm

    Happy to be back at the old same place!

    The gun hoarder photos remind me of the book, “Wisconsin Death Trip”. Same soulless look in their eyes.

    We are low-grade hoarders, mainly books. Our nephew has laid dibs on the science-fiction collection, though – 50+ years ago, I was a denizen of used book stores in Berkeley, where you could get paperbacks for 50% of the cover price. This is how I came to acquire a bunch of D series Ace doubles at  $0.17 apiece. Along with a number of eminently forgettable titles, I have a few keepers like Philip K. Dick’s first novel, “Solar Lottery”.

  72. 72.

    Martin

    May 30, 2022 at 10:47 pm

    So, I want to talk a bit about the Texas shooting and a consequence that I haven’t seen be reported on, but only very vaguely hinted at.

    When you build public service/systems, the problems always lie at the interfaces, where a person transitions from one support person to another, from one agency to another, etc. There are lots of mechanisms to help make this work (centralized records, strong policy/procedure implementation, etc.) but two that are pretty much unavoidable are trust, and self-interest.

    Self interest basically means that you as handoff support individual are invested in making sure that handoff goes well, often by having some responsibility to the ultimate outcome, as well as the support individual you are handing them off to are equally invested in the outcome. You don’t want this to be adversarial in any way, especially by deflecting work back to the other party. Trust means that you can stay in your lane and not have to try and do someone else’s job because they are responsible and seen as equally committed to the outcome that you are. Trust is needed to adequately compartmentalize the task and put different kinds of expertise in the correct places.

    The problem from Texas is that all of the active shooter process and programming from the last 25 years all relies on trust in police. You do x, y, z until police show up, and then you do a, b, c after they show up. The details have changed a bit, on the realization that in those handful of minutes before police can arrive, that you might need to fight back, etc. After Texas, that delegation of responsibility is now completely out the window. Everything that makes this even pretend to be workable is the police arriving ASAP and doing their job immediately. There is now no reason to follow the process, and lord knows what people will substitute in their place.

    I would not be shocked if some districts, particularly in Florida and other states that have put asinine policies on teachers, banned books, etc. face a staffing crisis in the fall as teachers just give up and find other jobs over summer. I’m guessing active shooter training will be absolute shitshows from here out, with participants, there because they are required to be, just straight up mocking the people running them.

  73. 73.

    RobertB

    May 30, 2022 at 11:10 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): 5.56 is $0.50 a round, so $2500 gets you 5000 rounds a month.  You could shoot your way through that much ammo if you really liked to shoot.

  74. 74.

    CapnMubbers

    May 30, 2022 at 11:21 pm

    @trollhattan: Was the land in Modoc County in California Pines near Alturas? My friend fell for the late night Eric Estrada commercials pushing lots there as a great retirement investment. As executor of her estate, that lot was the biggest headache. Another friend finally took the lot against my advice and suggestions to thoroughly research before commitment.

    Google earth view showed bare earth, no trees, no view, no water, paving, or utilities. Impossible to sell. I feel somewhat guilty for conveying it to second friend.

  75. 75.

    BigJimSlade

    May 30, 2022 at 11:23 pm

    @debbie: You see, for me that container on the right side of that picture would be a wine fridge. (But our closet near the front door is cool enough, so I don’t bother.) Misplaced priorities!!! My $20ish splurges don’t seem so bad now.

  76. 76.

    BigJimSlade

    May 30, 2022 at 11:24 pm

    You should only hoard consumables, so you keep diminishing what you’re storing. For instance, during the pandemic (I guess it’s still going, but let’s pretend), we had 3 5lbs bags of flour. I just had to buy a new one!

  77. 77.

    Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog

    May 30, 2022 at 11:34 pm

    @JWR: I was about an hour too late calling the classified ad (remember them?) the heirs had placed, for a pre-war Martin D28 that had never sold, out of a music store they’d inherited that sold a lot of saxophones and trumpets.

     

    It went cheap “because it was old and no one had ever wanted to buy a guitar” from them.

     

    :: sigh ::

  78. 78.

    dnfree

    May 30, 2022 at 11:35 pm

    1. @Suzanne: Toss pillows?  I have heard of throw pillows. Funny.
  79. 79.

    Citizen Alan

    May 30, 2022 at 11:40 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    With my mother’s death, I’m only now contemplating the daunting task of what to do with all the c*** she has collected over 85 years. Because she has literally never thrown away anything unless it had completely fallen apart.

  80. 80.

    cain

    May 31, 2022 at 12:04 am

    @Gin & Tonic: You mean gone with a bang  or bang! it’s gone!

  81. 81.

    sralloway

    May 31, 2022 at 12:08 am

    @Yutsano: ​ I collect coins. My bid thing is getting the U.S. cent collection complete. Have all from 1817 to date except for that 1877 Indian head, 1909s vdb and the 1955 double print (not the poor man’s). BU since 1941. Been collecting as a kid in the very early 1960s, Do have the full Canada small cent collection.​ Growing up i New England, it was easy to snatch Canada cents.
    ​
    ​

  82. 82.

    cain

    May 31, 2022 at 12:11 am

    @Citizen Alan: What is c***? cash? crap? clap? cops?

  83. 83.

    cain

    May 31, 2022 at 12:12 am

    I used to collect comic books – but haven’t since college. But I still have them. Good stuff too.

  84. 84.

    prostratedragon

    May 31, 2022 at 12:13 am

    Lots of neo-Amercan Gothic in that thread,  but the Baldwins are pure Hopper.

  85. 85.

    Wapiti

    May 31, 2022 at 12:17 am

    @Citizen Alan: Yup, my dad has a lifetime worth of stuff in his house. I force myself to not think about it, because my project-manager brain will run up against the reality that the man is a hoarder.  I might as well save the thinking for when we have to deal with his estate.

  86. 86.

    JWR

    May 31, 2022 at 1:11 am

    @Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog:

    a pre-war Martin D28 that had never sold

    Oy and Vey! The deals I’m sure we’ve all passed up! :(

    Somewhere around here I have an old-ish, probably 1960’s, Fender guitar and amp catalog, and, IIRC, a Strat was going for something like $360, a Tele for $250. Boy, those sure were the days

    ETA If I’ve left a late comment in a probably dead thread, I always go back to see if anyone’s replied, just in case.

  87. 87.

    Steeplejack

    May 31, 2022 at 1:54 am

    @Grumpy Old Railroader:

  88. 88.

    Juju

    May 31, 2022 at 2:22 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):I believe it’s called  “rode hard and put up wet”. 

  89. 89.

    Chris T.

    May 31, 2022 at 4:36 am

    @divF: I got so many books at Other Change of Hobbit … sadly, long gone now.

    (Dark Carnival is/was still in operation when I left last time in 2020)

  90. 90.

    Matt McIrvin

    May 31, 2022 at 7:46 am

    I would be sorely tempted to collect vintage pinball or arcade machines if I had a larger house. Of course, the upkeep of these things is a large part of the hobby, especially with pinballs.

  91. 91.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 31, 2022 at 9:42 am

    The answer is they are marketing victims; note;  as far as I can see none of them have the early model of the AR15 in their “awesome” AR15 collection. It’s all new stuff that’s still in production.   Maybe they are selling them as a side business like that  shooting range owner in the twitter thred but most of the feel like posers who want to show up to the range with a new gun every time to distract from the fact they suck at shooting.  Compare the rest of pictures the half dressed couple in bed with their firearms (the one with guy who works out out the woman has implants); that’s  says to me they both watched one too many GI Cartoons as kids and that is awesome because that’s passion. Extreme cosplay if you will.

  92. 92.

    JustRuss

    May 31, 2022 at 11:15 am

    @CaseyL:  I feel the same about motorcycles.  Lots of interesting bikes have been made over the years, and most aren’t very expensive.  But storing and insuring them…not on my budget.

    But I can see the appeal of collecting guns a little bit.  They’re mostly very well made, precision parts that fit together just right, and differences between them can be interesting.  But I don’t get the mindset of “My hobby is more important than the lives of thousands of people, including many school children.”  It’s literally insane.

  93. 93.

    EthylEster

    May 31, 2022 at 12:22 pm

    @Suzanne: looking for clutter? Zoom into the sliding glass door beside the kid on the bike in the second pic. There is some serious chaos in that room.

  94. 94.

    ItinerantPedant

    May 31, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    I look at all those pictures and see people who are REALLY dedicated to arming the rest of us when The Revolution Comes.  You can only fire one weapon at one time, everything after that is arming a LOT of people after they’ve taken them from your cold dead hands.

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