By Cory Graham

  You only NEED 5 guns. There are exceptions of course as with everything. I’m not talking about collectors, dealers or people involved in the competitive act of sport shooting or anyone else who keeps a lot of guns for whatever reason other than need. I’m talking about your average dude, in a utilitarian fashion, your basic home toolbox. NEED is the key word here. Most people have a flathead screwdriver, Phillips, a pair of pliers, hammer and socket wrench in their toolbox. Certainly, these can be scaled down to less than 5 but no need to cause further pain. WANT has nothing to do with this. People want five to ten different models and configurations of 1911’s. They want five to twenty differently customized and modified AR-15’s. I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about pure necessity. This is a basic tool set.

Home Gun

Your home gun, your bedside gun. Generally, this gun is a full size. It is the gun on the nightstand when something goes bump in the night. If you have kids, you will want to keep it in a bedside safe. If you don’t have children maybe you would place it in a drawer or beneath the lamp light. I would never keep a gun under a mattress or pillow. To me it’s too dangerous with all the rustling around in the wee hours. I have read news stories of dogs accidentally discharging a gun and killing its owner. Some people like their dogs in bed. I’m not one of those.

Conceal Carry Gun

 The world in which we live is increasingly evil and that evil is not shrinking. To say that one needs to carry some form of protection is an understatement. As far as I am concerned everyone should pack a gun when leaving the house. In ancient times people carried weapons whether it was swords, daggers or clubs. The police were no closer to saving our ancestors from evil doers in the moment of violence than they are today. Today humans are not the lesser of evil. It isn’t enough that we have to deal with the dark forces of this world that we have to deal with the dark forces that live inside the body of men and women.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of ^[a]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness” – (Ephesians 6:12)

Hunting Rifle

This is the food procurement gun. Preferably of a caliber that will take any large game on the North American continent. Usually in the .30 caliber range like 30-06, or .308. Ammo is commonly available at a reasonable price. You can harvest anything from wild hogs, deer, elk all the way up to moose and grizzly bear. I once watched a well-known tv hunting personality shoot a Canada goose with a rifle. 

Shotgun

This is the most utilitarian of guns. In my opinion the single most important tool. You can get away with just having this gun alone in your toolbox and attain everything above and below. It is the gun with which you can take small game like rabbits, squirrels and waterfowl alike. Not to mention the overlap with rifles. Buckshot or slugs can take large game, albeit at a shorter distance than a rifle but with an extra rifled barrel that distance can be extended. As far as an assault rifle replacement goes, there are some semi-automatic shotguns on the market that can be equipped with the right accessories and ammo to give an assault rifle at close range a run for its money.

Assault Rifle

I called it that. That is the name I grew up with because I’m used to it and like it. I also call it the Long Sword. The gun you need for two things, fun and if all hell breaks loose. It is also the gun that if things go south, you will probably find it the most difficult to get. The versions are endless, but I would stick with the one that is the most commonly available like .223 in the AR platform. When the Rapture occurs the AR15 will be the bee’s knees for anyone not caught up to Jesus.

   Another rule of thumb, when it comes to necessity, I’d try my best to keep the 5 guns the least diverse as possible. Have your caliber make and model as close to the same as you can. For instance, your home gun and conceal carry gun should be the same caliber and the same make, of course you might want the compact version for your conceal carry. This is ok as long as you consistently practice with both. Two reasons for that, familiarity with the round and practicality in purchasing and using the round and same model weapon. In other words your home gun and your concealed carry gun should be the same. You’ve practiced with both and you know them. You don’t want to shuffle from one format to another and take any amount of milliseconds to figure out the safety, trigger or sight mechanisms on a different make and model firearm. Don’t have a full size 1911 .45 next to the lamp stand but leave your house with a Sig Saur P365 9mm.

   You can get your Assault rifle and hunting rifle in the same caliber. But a .223 is not gonna be ideal for big North American game. Not to say .223 is what I mean to be the only ideal assault rifle either. Sig Saur has an AR10 in .308. Now you have an assault/ hunting rifle. I’m not gonna argue about ballistics and capabilities between dedicated hunting rifles and assault rifles. 

   At this point you have 4 guns and only two caliber purchase needs. That leaves us with the shotgun. I would recommend 12 gauge or 20, I’m not as familiar with the 20 as the 12.  With chokes and maybe a spare rifled barrel, like I said before the shotgun could make a, “You Only Need One Gun” article. At any rate this gives us 3 rounds for 5 guns. If you pick the .40 for your home gun and conceal gun (the .40 is not dead by the way I don’t care what anyone cries about), you have .40, .308, and 12 gauge. I think that’s a tight tool box