This is an interesting point.
I don't 'need' one any more than I need any of my guns. Shooting's a bit of fun, a hobby for me, and if I go out for the day then I need a gun, in fact a variety of guns depending on what I'm going to shoot, but I don't need any of them for my survival or my livelihood.
So in the sense that sometimes there are vast flocks of vermin overhead and I need to be able to shoot lots of them at once, yes I need one :-)
But will my life be much worse if I don't get one? No, I don't need one in that sense.
My FEO has said no problem.
I'm gonna go for it,