On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 4:10 PM, b_s-wilk<[email protected]> wrote: > We used to have neighbors who took out their guns and shot each other when > they had family feuds.
It is my understanding that the venerable institution of using firearms to settle scores was pretty much a rural thing that, over time, migrated to urban environments. Of course, in those rural environs, guns were perfectly legal to own and to carry around. Everybody had at least one. Apparently, the adage that everyone being armed makes for a safer environment didn't hold true back then, and still doesn't today in the inner city. > Stray > bullets can hit anything or anybody. I had a stay bullet smack into a tree recently about 15 or so yards from where I was standing. I live out in the "country." I had heard the shooting, which is legal where I live, and knew where it was originating from. I got pretty angry about the near miss, and immediately drove to the area where the shooting was taking place and discovered about five teenage boys in a front yard with a couple of rifles. No adults anywhere in sight. They swore to me that they had been shooting in a different direction, and pointed to a hill that sloped up toward the front of the house of one of the boys. I guess I was supposed to believe that they had chosen the house as a background for their shooting experience that day. I told them that the report of the rifle, which I heard a split second after the bullet hit the tree, had been noticeably louder than any other of the shots they had been firing. That fact told me that the rifle had been pointed in my direction when the shot was fired that hit the tree. I admonished them and they took it without talking back. They are lucky I didn't call the sheriff. I was fairly sure that their parents knew nothing of their exploits that day. Haven't heard any more shooting from there since. Maybe they are having fun these days with simulated shooting on their computers. Steve ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
