My firearms fu will never equal that of my father - I went for computers, a world in which this week's Uzi is Always And Forever next week's musket. In context, Winchester shutting down would be the same as losing Sun or SGI or another of the Big, Historically-Relevant-But-Struggling computing pioneers. There are, you could argue, only so many ways to make a saleable-to-the-masses boomstick. It sucks ass, but there's more to it than press releases and technology. There always is.

That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there.

-George Orwell

"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks."

Thomas Jefferson