a boy and his gun

What red blooded American boy in the 1950's and 60's didn't want to have his itchy little trigger fingers wrapped around a Daisy BB Gun? Man-a-live what a toy! Earlier today I heard my cousin Gene Chunn talk about shooting his little brother Eric and myself with his B-B gun. I remember the night well. Brooky and Gene had positioned themselves behind our garbage cans on Cliff Road. There were no BB's in the chamber, but Brook and Gene had secured a bountiful supply of lady-finger firecrackers that worked nicely. They would then cock the rifle and light the firecracker, and take aim at either little brother running up the hill. It was excellent target practice. Eric and I had a great time running up and getting hit in the chest with an explosive. POW! We'd then roll to the bottom of the hill laughing. I don't recall our older brothers giving us a crack at shooting at them that evening. I do recall both Eric and I going into the house that night with countless black burn holes in our coats. It looked as if we had been tortured by a gang of chain-smokers - used as human ashtrays.

Here's something else we'd do with our BB guns. Tack a ketchup packet to a tree and shoot at it from a distance. The packets would burst into a bloody mess when hit. Every time I see a ketchup packet - I want to kill it.

Yes, I did shoot at animals with it - but only in self defence. We had dogs all in our neighborhood and some weren't very nice. If a dog in the neighborhood got a little too aggressive - it was a boy's right to sting a furry ass with a little dose of respect. Dogs would yelp and head for a hole to hide. Hopefully the beast would be nicer the next time you were in their neighborhood. If someone came out upset about my brand of BB Gun justice - it was the boy's right to yelp and head for a hole to hide.

My cousin Gene told me that he got in a little trouble when he was a youngster by target practicing with his little sister's plastic tea party set. He lined up the pretty pink plastic china on his dad's barbecue rig out back and commenced to hone his rifling skills.

I never shot another kid with my rifle - at least not intentional. I did hear about kids in other neighborhoods that would have BB Gun battles. That kind of play was a little too rough for me. My friend "One Eyed McGee" said that he and his pals had BB Gun battles all the time. I declined his kind offer seeing how I didn't want to acquire a like nickname.