Gun epiphany

Over at Oleg Volk's The High Road, there is a great thread on how people came to be gun nuts. The title of the thread is Gun epiphany - what happened to you. My reply is as follows:

I was a gun nut from the beginning. I wore out two Daisy BB guns before I was eleven years old, then stepped up to a Crosman pump pellet rifle. Dad was a duck hunter and I bought my first shotgun at age 13. (That was legal in those days.) I ordered it through a rod and gun club where Dad was a member.

After college I went into the Army and learned all I could about tank warfare, long distance gunnery, etc, etc. After the Army, I fell into law enforcement. Up till that time I had never sighted on a live human being. Being around guns and shooting was an academic exercise and hobby.

That all changed one afternoon in the early 1980's. My partner and I were serving a warrant on a felon who had skipped parole. We happened to learn where he was hiding out and went to get him. We split up to cover the corners of the house and I happened to notice the felon watching my partner. He held a gun in his hands. I drew my revolver, propped against a convenient corner and told the felon to drop his gun. He turned his head to look at me. (I remember this more plainly than I remember putting my boots on this morning.)

For reasons I still don't understand today, (and in violation of all my training) as that felon turned his head to look at me, I thumb-cocked that Model 66. He put his hands in the air, dropped his weapon and proned-out on the ground.

After we booked him, he told the jailer that when he looked at me, he saw the cylinder turn and knew he was a dead man.

That afternoon was an epiphany for me. Being a gun nut became more than just a hobby and I seriously began to study my craft.

Years later, I carried my partner to his grave. He had choked to death, of all things, on a hamburger.

Twenty-six years later, I'm still doing the job.

This is one of the best threads I've seen on the High Road.us. Oleg Volk does a great service to the gun community by hosting this forum. If you're serious about guns, this is a great place to hang out.

Go read.