Heavily Armed?

C

CWL

New member
Y'all,

Here's something that has annoyed me over the years:

What exactly does "Heavily Armed" mean?

Example of usage I see in media: "A Heavily Armed man who had barricaded himself inside his home has finally surrendered to police, taken into custody was Mr. XYZ ...police also recovered a .22 caliber revolver inside the home..."

Does this bother anyone else? What makes someone "Heavily Armed" v. just "Lightly Armed"? Can I be "slightly armed" or "armed just enough"?
 
D

Double Naught Spy

New member
Heavily armed?

This seems to be relative in many cases. For example, it could mean that the bad guys...
have more guns than you (such as a bad guy with a shotgun and a couple of pistols)
have larger caliber guns than you
have many guns but not enough people to shoot them all at once (UT sniper in the 60s)
have a higher rate of fire (North Hollywood bank robbers who used machine guns and kept 200+ cops at bay ... meaning they were outnumbers 100:1 for the fight but managed to control the situation for quite some time)
any amount of firepower that you weren't expecting to encounter.
 
4

4V50 Gary

Staff
A young person's guide to the media lexicon

Heavily armed: subject has a gun
arsenal: many guns (and if not enough, do a close up shot to fill the lens)
shooting spree: fired more than 1 shot
weapons of mass destruction: semi-automatic firearm with detachable magazine.
massive casulties: more than 1 ambulance
gun control: gun confiscation
 
S

Sindawe

New member
Heavily armed?

Hmmm...well maybe I have an odd perspective on things, but to me someone who's 'heavily armed' would either have biceps that have a circumfrance greater than 18", or are using a cannon to hold LEOs at bay.
 
J

Johnny Guest

Moderator in Memoriam
A good question, CWL

I tend toward the, "Having more guns than you can manage at one time" definition. I would also factor in someone with a couple of guns and quite a bit of extra ammo.

Last time I gave the term "heavily armed" any thought was recently when Elder Son and I were going somewhere together. Something came over the county radio about a suspect, said to be heavily armed. I glanced over and Son was smiling. I believe there were four or five handguns, an AR15, and well over 200 rounds of various ammo in the car. And no, we weren't going to/from the range.


4V50 Gary - - - good insight into news reporting about guns and armed persons. :p

Best,
Johnny
 
T

TheLastBoyScout

New member
Heavily armed--
for a law abiding civilian- more than 50 rds or 3 mags for their defensive handgun
for a criminal- More than 3 mags for a rifle OR 25 shotgun shells OR more than one weapon OR more than 50 rounds or 3 mags for a handgun
 
J

JohnKSa

Administrator
Lightly armed is me when I only have my .380 PPK and a spare mag.

Armed is James Garner in Maverick "The Lazy Ace", or Mel Gibson in "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome".

Heavily armed is Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss in the lobby scene of "The Matrix" or Michael Gross and Reba McEntire in the basement scene of "Tremors I".
 
W

Walosi

New member
My mothers' family apparently saved every letter, diary and other written document ever gathered by their clan. In a book compiled by one of the family, there is a "daily journal" of one of the family who traveled by horse from Illinois to the area of Kentucky from which his part of the clan had moved. In the journal, he noted daily expenses (eight cents ferry fee for him and the horse at a river crossing) and the items he had considered necessary for the trip - including a lever-action Winchester and two "Colts' revolvers", "For I would not contemplate such travel without I be well armed". Those were more sensible times, perhaps. Today, "well armed" would certainly be "heavily armed", if not "maniacal". Maybe we have slipped more than we realize.
 
W

Walosi

New member
There were soldiers, and some noted politicians, scattered through the line, but for the most part they were "common" farmers, and not rare at all in their area of space and time. The will left by this mans' brother included tools for blacksmithing, cobblers' tools (he made all the shoes worn by his immediate family) and "tools for moulding shot and measuring of powder". No guns. They went to the boys before his passing, and, regardless of what the dribble-chin historian from Emory dreamed up, each boy got more than one, in addition to those they already had. This man in particular farmed several hundred acres, raised and sold horses, and fed and clothed a household of twelve, including his mother, mother-in-law, occasional cousins and his wife and children. He did this with his immediate family and and neighbors who pitched in at harvest to help each other. When you can see a record of what these early Americans did as a regular day-to-day routine, the phrase "When Men were Men" kind of takes on added diminsion.
 
L

Long Path

New member
Left pocket: KelTec P11 (11 rds)
Right Hip, in waistband: Kimber Classic .45. (9 rds)
Right pocket: Spare .45 mag(8 rds), 5" lockblade.


I am "Well Armed," but would not consider myself "Heavily Armed."
 
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notbubba

New member
Another phrase that gets me is "a large cache of ammo" then later in the story they say "the police confiscated over a thousand rounds of ammo".:eek:

I have "a large cache of ammo" ?:confused: :confused:
 
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