Define "Arsenal"

[John/az2]

I hear/read this word a lot in the news media, but just what is the legal definition?

[Greg L]

In other words one round of ammo or one gun. Or is arsenal plural, in that case two of each.

Greg

[glockten]

Webster's II New College Dictionary:

arsenal 1.A governmental establishment for the storing, manufacturing, or repairing of war materiel, as arms and ammunition.

2.A stock of weapons.

The news media probably considers anything more than two to be a "stock", therefore an arsenal.

[ctdonath]

Some anti-gunners have been trying to push thru a law regulating (banning?) "arsenals". The clever bastards are playing off the emotional impact of the word: "gosh, that guy has an ARSENAL - that can't be allowed!" In these bills, an "arsenal" is typically defined as either >1000 rounds of ammunition or >20 guns. Those quantities sound dangerously excessive to most people, who don't realize that 1000 rounds is roughly $20 worth of .22 ammo, $200 of military caliber ammo, and that normal-sized gun collections typically exceed 20 guns.

That they're after "arsenals" shows what their goals really are. The problem isn't the guy with 20 guns and 1000 rounds of ammo...the problem is the guy with one gun and 1-10 bullets and the intent to kill. If anything, the guy with the "arsenal" should get a tax break for contributing to the security of a free state!

[Waitone]

How long will it be before one the these animals "rolled their own" before going postal?????????

Then what?

[dZ]

4 Reduction of the number of guns to require an Arsenal license
Right now the proposed Arsenal licenses which Senator Feinstein
should be pushing for, requires an "Arsenal License" for those
people who feel they need more than 20 guns and 1000 rounds of
ammunition. We feel that number is too generous, due to the fact
that any number of guns constitutes a grave threat to the safety
of the community, we suggest strongly that this license limit
be reduced to possession greater than 5 guns and 250 rounds of
ammunition.

5 Arsenal License Fees
It is not unreasonable to require a yearly fee for an Arsenal
license to be at least $300.00, with a cap of $1000.00. The money
collected can be used to defray the immense medical costs directly
attributed to these deadly weapons.

6 Limits on Arsenal Licensing
No Arsenal Licensing to be permitted in counties with populations
of more than 200,000.

http://www.rkba.org/antis/hci-master

[Juan Hunt Greer]

Gee, I dunno, My bedroom closet, mebbee? Just be AWFULLY careful putting so much as a finger in there without knowing EXACTLY what you're doing!
crankshaft
paranoid, You bet I'm paranoid! You would be too if they were out to get You ( oh, I forgot they're out to get all of US!!).

[RHarris]

The million commie mommies might say something like:

...and during a routine traffic stop, a man was found possesing a semiautomatic rifle capable of holding more than 10 rounds. In addition to that, 1000 rounds of hollow point ammunition were found. Worst of all two children were in the vehicle!!! It was found the man had membership in some extremist organization. If he hadn't been stopped, imagine what he could have done!!!

Sure does sound like a big threat to society. But if you are a member of the NRA or other such organization and take your nephews to the range one weekend with a Model 60 marlin and a couple bricks of cheap .22 ammo, you might be described this way.

[Sword]

Barney Fife used to carry an arsenal in his shirt pocket.

[Johnny Got His Gun.1]

Christmas day I received a veritable arsenal of .22s and was criticized by my brother-in-law for not keeping it at the in-laws for after-lunch target practice. In response, I rushed home (only two miles away), grabbed a small portion of the arsenal and returned, and ten minutes into our terrorist--I mean, target--practice, there were a dozen uncles, cousins, and brothers-in-law sending lead down range (the pecan orchard with a pond fronted by a ten-foot clay hill serving as a backstop).

Let me tell you, we were extreme. Just a bunch of militia members.

Not a single one of us was smiling, either, because we felt so bad having an arsenal at our disposal.

[mussi]

We at our home have an arsenal. My parents who have the vault
(where I also store most of my guns) have at least 100 long arms,
mostly semi-automatic, as well as an uncounted number of hand guns,
shotguns etc.

And the ammo. Just think of it - 1600 rounds of .223 cost less than
130 US-$ here, come in nice boxes and stack nicely. I went for a hefty
oad of that stuff, as well as my parents.

We haven't murdered anybody in the last 50 years or so, BTW.

[scud]

any weapon that could inflict any harm including chaffing on the cushy rear of any socialist political figure is considered a arsenal.

[RobertR]

Mussi:

Where do you live? Sounds like a cool place to me. Based on all the hoplophobe crap, I fall in with the arsenal group. Well over 1K primers and ammo.

Kind of like joining SAMs club or COSTCO. You buy in bulk to save money. Kind of sounds like the hoplophobes have gommeritis.

Gollie sarg!!!!

[RickD]

6) No Arsenal Licensing to be permitted in counties with populations of more than 200,000.

I have a sneaking feeling that such a provision would leave most counties arsenaless.

Diabolically clever!

Rick

[Sword]

"6) No Arsenal Licensing to be permitted in counties with populations of more than 200,000."

Y'all come down to Texas, and bring plenty ammo!

We have 254 counties in the state, and only 15 have over 200,000 population. In fact, 5 of them are under 1,000 population, and would probably enjoy the company!

[ds1973]

well according to my wife, an arsenal is:

An AR-15 with 3 or 4 20 and 30 rnd magazines and a 1911 pistol with about 1000 rounds for each.

How do I know this, well when I bought my second pistol, those were the other firearms in the house when she whined:

"Why do you need another gun? I already feel like we live in an arsenal!"

I thought that was the minimum necessary equipment that every American should own to keep tyranny at bay.

[Correia]

Robert, Mussi lives in Switzerland. And I am certainly envious of their cost for .223 and their abundance of fine Sig 550s.

[HankL]

ds1973, You need to work on your wife in small stages. You know, canned goods and pump shotgun are great investments etc.

[M1911]

As a budding collector, I just cringe anytime the media announces the capture of an "arsenal." They usually show the guns arrayed on a table, with a bunch of LEOs standing behind them. And in almost every case, I look at what's in the picture and realize that 1) the fool didn't really have much taste, and 2) he didn't have much of a collection either. I've lost track of how many guns I own and prefer to have at least 500 rounds on hand for all important calibers (.38, 9mm, .45, .223, .308, 762x39, etc.).

I can just imagine the headlines if I were the unfortunate sole to wind up in that position. The media would be looking for a bigger word than arsenal. What do you have when you have more guns and ammo than your local police department?

M1911

[HankL]

The media would be looking for a bigger word than arsenal.

How about private collection or a compilation of objects from the gunmaker's art. Most arsenals in the modern sense of the word are places where firearms or other such things are manufactured for the military. Now the words depot and armory come to mind!