Why We Never Bought a BB Gun

When my son turned twelve, some of his friends had BB Guns. They would go out with their BB guns to the local woods, put up targets, old cans, old soda bottles, and shoot their BB Guns to their hearts content. I know that they would shoot at the squirrels or birds that flew by because I knew what my husband did as a child. This is why I never bought a BB Gun:

Ray, my husband got his first BB Gun when he was twelve for Christmas. That was all the rage and you could not be a boy without a BB Gun Rifle. So off he went to his best friend's house, John had received a BB Gun also for Christmas. Together they sat in John's living room looking at the decorated Christmas tree with all the bright bulbs and lights flashing. Together they demolished the ornaments, the lights, the Christmas plates and any other piece of glass decorations that were in John's living room. According to Ray they sat behind the couch pretending to be fighting Indians and Outlaws, and each Red Bulb was worth two points, each green bulb was worth three points, and each large light on the strand of lights on the tree was forth a whopping five points a piece. By the time the two of them were done there was not an ornament nor light left on the tree except for the Angel that was on top. They left her alone because they knew that God would punish them for shooting an angel.

Ray then told me, after John's mother came home and found her tree a disaster that John lost the rights to his gun for the remaining part of the year, she promptly called Ray's father, and like father like son, all he did was to say "why did you shoot it in the house? Couldn't you wait to go outside?'

Ray continued to use his gun throughout the remainder of the year, he was bored during the summer months, and he took aim at a neighbors pigeon coop. It seemed that the pigeons had a tendancy to fly over his mother's clothes line and leave friendly reminders of their business. Ray laid atop of the garage, took aim and rid himself of the nuisance of the pigeons. Upon complaints of the neighbors his father asked his son why he shot the birds in daylight?

Ray used that gun for almost a year and then when he turned thirteen he lost interest in guns and gained an interest in girls....

His son is just like him, I could just imagine a neighbor calling me telling me that her Christmas lights were shot out, or that the cat that he doesn't care for had its little behind peppered. I could hear my husband say, "Rob, how many bulbs did you knock out and what score did you get, I bet I beat you?"

Did not want a law suit on my hands, that is why I never allowed a BB Gun to be in my home.