MSNBC just reported that this man's mother was a "survivalist" type

[DonCoquixote]

125. response to raccoon.

You said

Then you say "You don't NEED it to kill a raccoon". What do you suggest is a better way to kill a pest raccoon....a samurai sword or maybe strangle it with a pair of pantyhose?

No, you use a damn bolt action rifle, hunting rifles, or crossbow, or bow and arrow or any of the dozen weapons that hunters have been killing raccoons with long before Ben Franklin wore coonskin caps! I guess Davy Crockett was useless without an AR-15.

I am in Florida, hunting country, where they hunt things that are a lot scarier than raccoon (like 300 pound wild boar.) These guys packing their bows, shotguns and bolt action rifles would see someone with an AR-15, and think that guy was a wimp!

SO, yes, people may buy many types of guns for many reasons: shotguns for buck and duck, rifles for boar, maybe a nice fiberglass compound bow (aka a real hunter's weapon), but there is no reason anyone needs a gun that was manufactured to kill people, period!