Want guns? Avoid debt.
I'm 30, married, and I work as a mid-level computer consultant. Low-middle class neighborhood, no kids yet, two dogs, two cars.
I'd have tons of money for guns if:
I had no car payments, mortgage, home equity loan payments, and wasn't fixing up my house for the past three years.
I do have more than 20 firearms in my collection at present, but I bought the majority of them in my 20's when I was single. I have since then slowed down considerably.
My last purchase was over 6 months ago, a Schmidt Rubin K31 with my C&R collectors license, and even then I couldn't afford to stock up on the relatively scarce 7.5 swiss ammo.
Lately, I've only been getting 1-2 guns a year for the past 2-3 years now. I've just refinanced the mortgage, and both our car payments end within the next year, so perhaps things will pick up then.
I've come to realize having money for lots of gun stuff or other hobby money isn't really about "being rich" or having a high-paid job, but more about staying out of debt with the exception of "good/unavoidable debt" like your mortgage. If you do things like save up for what you want instead of using credit cards, buy used cars that are 2-3 years old but still look nice and pretty new for cash etc. you'll have plenty of money for a nice house/mortgage and guns.
When you get into debt you wind up paying 3-4 times the value of whatever it is you purchased, and it takes you 5-10 times longer to pay it off than doing without and saving up would have gotten you in the first place.
