For arms, it's one of those, better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. If someone keeps a messy camp (most everyone is good about it though) bears can come through, get in between a mamma moose and her calf, and she has the ability to kill you. You can end up 3 feet from animals out here and not even realize it. I feel very comfortable around firearms, and no one uses them inappropriatly, and I feel better when some one brings one when we end up way off the road system. Some place you can target shoot so, on occasion (I can really only think of one time, no kids were on that trip...) we've practiced. But all the saftey precautions are taken, and if someone has not used a gun before, or it's been a long time, there's always an "gun-smart supervisor."
Alaska is a very pro-gun state, and most people have them here and think nothing to take them on a wheeling trip. Most people are also educated about them, and we would never let any one use one inappopriatly on our trips.
There are new pics all the time in the trip reports section on the Network. all my pics are from early this year or last winter (got a little lazy about getting them uploaded...) but here's a link:
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c170/wolfheartak/
Some of the pics are not wheeling, but they are all of AK. There's a trip to Cordova, a snowmachine weekend, and a bunch of people I don't know - I just went to the party... Feel free to check them out.
-Marisha