BB Gun Violence

Growing up in a home with three older brothers and two working parents, meant limited parental supervision and unlimited chaos for us boys. Being the youngest brother, I would always play with my older brother’s stuff; Their video games or toys were the greatest because I wasn’t supposed to mess with them. Of course my curiosity lead to many purple nurples or Indian rug burns by the hands of my older siblings.

It was probably 2009, so I was eight years old at the time. My brother Wyatt had recently gotten one of the coolest birthday presents he ever had, a pump action BB gun rifle. One afternoon shortly after he had gotten that sick BB gun, my brother’s friends came over to ride bikes with him. Of course I wanted to go but my brother gave me a wedgie and told me to get lost. After this I should have just gone inside to watch TV, but I didn’t.

Now this is where things escalate in the story; I am an eight year old kid that is home alone, and I know where the BB gun is. So I grabbed a bunch of soda cans and set them up in the garage which was the first mistake. I was having the greatest time firing at these cans, missing most of them but still just hold the BB gun was great to me. But then my savage child instincts kicked in and I just start shooting random stuff in the garage, that’s mistake number two. Finally my fun comes to a screeching halt when I pull the trigger and the barrel of the BB gun was directly facing the window of the garage. Yes, mistakes were made.

As you might expect I got roughed up pretty good when my brother got home. And my parents said I wasn’t allowed to play with my brother’s BB gun anymore. If I had the information I do now, I would know that it isn’t wise to shoot BB guns indoors, and metal beads do in fact break glass. I most definitely regretted shooting that window, for the constant teasing from my brothers that came after. It was a traumatizing experience back in 2009, but now that I am older and can take a step back to think; It is actually a good story that always gets a few chuckles when I share it.

Photo by John Hoff