Bennyboy
Bennyboy's JournalPart Two, Reader's Digest...
When i was about 12 or so, my dad read an article about a parent that kills his kid because the kid was high on drugs. Might have been the one and only thing my dad ever read. It affected him so. Right after he read it he tossed it to me on my bed and told me "that is how you are gonna end up" or some shit like that. I can remember everything about that day. Blue bedspread.
That story was later a movie and a book: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536628
I was terrified and never read the story, All I knew was my dad wanted to kill me. I didn't even realize the kid was on "Reds" (seconal) till just now. And that is weird as well because the first time I ever got into trouble with drugs was on Reds.(Some years later) And after that I never took them again. Downers were out for me after that.
From that day on, I had to deal with my father pulling guns on me. So many times that I do not have one recollection of one event. I have snippets of many to remember...and they change all the time. He would threaten me constantly, and then my children, wives etc, all the time as well. "I am going to get my gun, that will stop this"....... I of course would react badly and do anything in my power to see that he never made it to his guns again. Many many many incidents over the years. My dad was crazy as hell but nobody could tell. As he got more and more insane, (and refusing diagnosis) he got worse and worse. More violent acts. More attacks, more guns. He would call and tell either me or my brother than he was going to kill my mom and himself etc regularly.. We of course would speed over and take his guns away. Only to have the same thing happen a month later and finding another big bunch of guns. Some legal, some not so much (dad loved the poker scene and guns are pretty easy to find there)....
But he refused diagnosis and if they do that there is no way, without a lot of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to take someone's rights away. Hs motive for that was not so much the guns but the financial control etc. We tried. Finally he gave up on having guns after my brother moved to Montana to get away from him (and all the end of life decisions in regards to the bullshit I am dealing with right now).. but he never stopped threatening us.
PART III The shootout.
Guns and me (longish)
PART ONE:
From the earliest age I had guns in my life. I remember going to Chico Sporting Goods, on our way to our campground, and buying a bolt action 22, for my very own at around 10 or so. We would go camping and blow the shit out of everything. We shot cans, homemade targets etc. Box upon box.. Everyone we camped with took part and gun safety was very very important. Newcomers, of which there were many over the years, had to listen to the speech about gun safety and all that before they were allowed to fire.
For decades we would do this as a family. Got some better guns, but mostly stuck to 22 caliber rifles, pump action and the single shot (which my brother now has). Other people would bring other guns, handguns etc but they were too big of bang for me and I and my family preferred the smaller caliber rifles....
Went hunting over the years but never killed anything, nor did anyone in the party I was with. Did some skeet shooting and liked that though.
By the time I was in sixth grade I had a lot of experience handling guns. We used to go ride out a place we called "Lead Hill" and blow the shit out of stuff every weekend. A whole bunch of us would ride our dirt bikes, mini bikes etc along the railroad tracks to avoid street riding and we would target practice. It was this big bank and we would put the targets up there and blast away. I had my own gun then, a 22 caliber pump action with a shitty scope. Used to be pretty good too, Shot a bit to the upper right about 2 oclock..
One of the biggest streets round here is named "Lead Hill Blvd" after that spot. It was where EVERYONE used to go to shoot. The Hill is still there too but that area is pretty populated now. Probably one hell of a lot of guns round there though considering the neighborhood.
I really got into black powder guns for a while as an adult. Loved them, mostly just because they were a kick in the ass but there was a certain "If I wanna kill someone, I really gonna have to want them dead" scenario that felt safer than having rim fire weapons laying around. . I had some nice ones too, including an 1860's era blunderbuss and a 60 caliber Sharps Buffalo rifle (with tripod) (like Jeremiah Johnson) and a couple of pistols. even had a cannon for a while. But that is one expensive hobby and you gotta live in that world to really get the full thing going...and I wasn't ready to turn in my tie dyes for a coonskin Cap that I skinned myself.
never had another gun after I sold all my powder guns. Being an emotional sort, I figured that a gun would only lead to more problems than it solved.
PART TWO: READER'S Digest.
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Member since: Sun Jun 10, 2007, 01:07 AMNumber of posts: 10,440
