Devon Gray

I usually lurk, but I have an interesting story on the subject of children and BB guns. When my
husband James was 12 or so (he is 45 now) it seemed to him that all of the children in his
neighborhood had BB guns, so he wanted one too. His dad always had guns in the house,
locked in cases, ammo separate, the whole she-bang, however, he said no to a BB gun,
instead he got his son a .22 caliber rifle. James's dad said, "You should never point a gun at
anything unless you are willing to kill it." He didn't want his son armed with a weapon that
*didn't* kill. I know, it's counter-intuitive, but I thought that you-all could appreciate the
thinking.

Anyway, James was shot with BB's by the neighborhood children on a regular basis, and
suffered no great ills therefrom. His dad showed him how to shoot his .22 safely, and then
James was trusted to go off and shoot old washing machines at the dump. He never killed a
bird or a rat, and says that he didn't do anything that he regrets, even in his secret soul.

Devon