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I would argue that a well built and well designed firearm should, like any other well built and well designed machine, have a few well defined points for failure that are relatively cheap and easy to replace. While I strongly agree with having spares for those parts (e.g. springs, ejectors, barrels), I am forced to wonder if the money spent on a duplicate FIREARM in the name of redundancy might not be better spent on a single, better quality firearm.

A quality, well maintained tool should certainly function as it should. The point of the saying, and in complete redundancy, is that if you desperately NEED to employ your tool and it doesn't immediately work as expected, having another similar tool immediately available may save your bacon. In a time of dreadful urgency, the time for troubleshooting and wrench turning to fix an issue may simply not be available. I am not saying that everyone should have two of everything, but two is most certainly better than one in any scenario where stakes and absolute urgency are high.

What you consider essential may or may not be the same as what I consider essential. Even so, a good starting point on an "essential long gun collection" for most gun owners would probably include the following:

Rimfire rifle for plinking, practice, pest control
Shotgun -- 12 ga. pump or semiautomatic for fowl hunting and/or defense
AR-15 in 5.56x45 for defense, training and varmints/game up to medium size
Centerfire Rifle in a heavier caliber for hunting larger game

Remember that 2 is 1 and 1 is none, so each of these should be duplicated to ensure you have what you need when you need it.

YMMV, of course.