As we left the walk-in closet, strapped and ready to bust caps, Clancy's fiancee, Alexandra Llewellyn, happened by. ''You boys going to shoot?'' she said with a half-smirk. Llewellyn is a second cousin of Colin Powell. The obvious implication of this fact has drawn notice, to Clancy's consternation. ''Because I like guns I'm supposed to be in the [expletive] K.K.K.?'' he asked.

Earlier, we had been sitting in his office, which overlooks the Chesapeake Bay -- perfectly idyllic except for the Navy helicopter buzzing the house. ''That happens all the time. You know, 'That's where Tom Clancy lives.''' Clancy is the Ricky Martin of the United States military, and he returns the adulation. Clancy's newest work, ''Every Man a Tiger,'' a nonfiction book written with Gen. Chuck Horner, retired, who commanded the allied air campaign against Iraq, has been on the New York Times best-seller list for three weeks.

Tom Clancy is famously right-wing, and famously prickly, and today, as we armed ourselves, there was no way to know if he was being especially prickly or especially right-wing. But this was the day after the Littleton shootings, and it was not turning into a good day for the N.R.A. and its supporters, of whom Tom Clancy is among the most prominent. ''People are going to say, 'Oooooh, guns are bad, guns are bad.''' He said this in a mincing tone of voice. ''Well, not one of my guns ever jumped out of my closet and killed someone.''

Clancy's audience today is not entirely unsympathetic. When he asked me what weapon I would bring to shoot, I explained that I am a resident of D.C., where it is illegal to own handguns. I said that I thought this particular ban was illogical, since it has had no discernible impact on the city's crime rate. I endeared myself to Clancy by expressing this opinion, and he said he would even let me use his ammunition.

But where should blame for Littleton be apportioned, then?

''Obviously, those kids' parents messed up somehow or other. Maybe they were genetically flawed. Maybe the best thing to do would be for the parents to join the N.R.A. and take a good gun-safety class.''