New Yorker magazine has an interesting article about history of 2nd amendment, NRA and gun control

[Atypical Liberal]

39. No problem.

DO you practice with the SAR1 regularly?

Not so much anymore. When I bought the SAR1 I bought a case of 1000 rounds of ammo to go with it. It cost $89. I have burned through all but 200 rounds or so, which I am saving in case of emergency. I'd like to buy some more ammo for it but a case of ammo now costs $250 last time I checked.

The price of ammunition is why I started reloading. I currently only reload .45 ACP, but whereas 4 50-round boxes of .45 ACP could cost me $40 or more for an afternoon at the range I can now shoot the same amount for $6.

Do you envision or fear attack or home invasion or do you think your interest in weapons is similar to someone who likes cars or collecting model trains or antiques?

I've only been a victim of crime once. Last year someone went into our back yard here at home and tried to hot-wire my brand new garden tractor. But I've been fortunate most of my life to live in quiet middle class neighborhoods, and I live a relatively boring life of work and school and family. So I don't feel I am likely to encounter crime.

The biggest reason I own firearms is for shooting for fun. I shoot competitively.

But the second biggest reason I own them is for emergency preparedness for SHTF scenarios (shit hits the fan). After seeing the disaster of Katrina and what happened here when the tornadoes struck last year and put us without power for a week and gasoline was gone in a day, I am convinced that the fabric of society is very tenuous, and it would not take much, especially in urban areas, to case extreme, dog-eat-dog rioting and looting. I believe within my lifetime we are going to see a chemical, biological, or nuclear terror attack on a major US city, and when that happens chaos is going to ensue. People will try to flee the cities, especially if the terrorists are smart and say they have similar weapons in other, unnamed cities. People will not travel into the cities to deliver food and fuel, and as such they will run out in a day, maybe two.

Many people fantasize about "bugging out" in such scenarios, with a "bug out bag", but I have grave doubts of most people being able to do this. Firstly, you are going to be caught up in the mob that is going to strip you of whatever looks valuable. Thirdly most of these people aren't in good enough shape to carry anything any meaningful distance anyway. You are far better off, in my opinion, staying put with your supplies, which will be far greater than anything you can carry with you, and protect your home, or what is left of it, with your neighbors.

Many car lovers are concerned that somehow they are going to come and take away the old cars that pollute so badly, but that hasn't manifested itself as a voting block, at least yet.

I believe there are emissions exceptions for registered antique cars, which seems reasonable given how few are on the road.