Boys and Guns

So a five year old boy got busted at his local elementary school for carrying a (capless) cap gun to school, where he spent TWO HOURS (really?!) being questioned by the authorities (what in the name of God were they asking him??!!) during which the poor kid peed his pants.

Things sure have changed since I was a kid, when walking around with a cap gun and holster were practically required for all boys under the age of twelve (when you graduated to a real .22).

I only have one photo of this dangerous period in my life (that's me with the bad haircut next to my younger brother, who is holding the family BB gun next to his leg) and I guess I'm kind of happy that there were no iphones around to capture me at the age of six, when I found three Nazi daggers buried under my porch while living in postwar Germany and strapped all of them on and rode my bike around the neighborhood waving them at any German kid I came across.

A scofflaw like me would never have made it out of that principal's office...