The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

geetarman · July 2, 2012, 01:11 PM

My Dad taught me about guns. I knew where he kept the rifle and the shotgun.

He ALWAYS told me to leave them alone when he was not around. I did not always do that and but for the Grace of God, I never ended up in a situation that I would live to regret...BUT...there WERE a couple of times when it could have turned out the other way. Fate or whatever you want to call it, smiled at me.

Case in point, there was an armory being built for the National Guard near our house and we kids played around the place even though we were told not to do that. As they moved in equipment, they brought in a load of land mines. I have NO clue if they were real or not but the detonators WERE.

They were the square box and the pencil type detonators and they both used a round initiator to set off the charge.

So what did we do? We rigged detonators round our house with fishing line for trip wire...

We had NO idea just how powerful those detonators were. If one had gone off in our face, we would have been maimed or blinded if not flat out killed.

We were told to stay away from the place but we did not.

My uncle saw what we were doing and flat out told us we had no clue about the danger. He has just gotten back from South Korea and he knew what he was talking about.

He told us to get that stuff back to the armory and if he heard about any more monkey shines from us, he would tell our parents what we had done.

We learned a lesson and never messed with that kind of thing again.

Point being, we had access, motivation goaded by curiosity and the belief that as kids, we were ten feet tall and bullet proof.

We lucked out. Others are not so fortunate and cemeteries are full of young kids who have done the same thing as we did except for the ending.

Our children are grown now and on their own. I do not know everything thing they did when I was away from the house. I did not leave guns around and in the open, but they knew where they were and how to get to them.

You can't be too safe and you cannot assume your kids are always 100 percent truthful.

Geetarman

July 2, 2012, 01:11 PM	#23
geetarman Senior Member Join Date: November 18, 2009 Location: Arizona Posts: 3,157	My Dad taught me about guns. I knew where he kept the rifle and the shotgun. He ALWAYS told me to leave them alone when he was not around. I did not always do that and but for the Grace of God, I never ended up in a situation that I would live to regret...BUT...there WERE a couple of times when it could have turned out the other way. Fate or whatever you want to call it, smiled at me. Case in point, there was an armory being built for the National Guard near our house and we kids played around the place even though we were told not to do that. As they moved in equipment, they brought in a load of land mines. I have NO clue if they were real or not but the detonators WERE. They were the square box and the pencil type detonators and they both used a round initiator to set off the charge. So what did we do? We rigged detonators round our house with fishing line for trip wire... We had NO idea just how powerful those detonators were. If one had gone off in our face, we would have been maimed or blinded if not flat out killed. We were told to stay away from the place but we did not. My uncle saw what we were doing and flat out told us we had no clue about the danger. He has just gotten back from South Korea and he knew what he was talking about. He told us to get that stuff back to the armory and if he heard about any more monkey shines from us, he would tell our parents what we had done. We learned a lesson and never messed with that kind of thing again. Point being, we had access, motivation goaded by curiosity and the belief that as kids, we were ten feet tall and bullet proof. We lucked out. Others are not so fortunate and cemeteries are full of young kids who have done the same thing as we did except for the ending. Our children are grown now and on their own. I do not know everything thing they did when I was away from the house. I did not leave guns around and in the open, but they knew where they were and how to get to them. You can't be too safe and you cannot assume your kids are always 100 percent truthful. Geetarman