I kind of started the homemade toy submachine gun business when i made one a couple years ago. (Note-It was a TOY home made submachine gun. Sort of an artistic abstract sort of thing. Not something you would scare the neighbors with)
Chronic boy was very impressed and started building his own.
What caught my eye on this one was the walnut stock that looked very much like a Ruger 10/22.
My brother had a stainless 10/22 that he kept in our section of the shop under the work bench. He didn't shoot it much and it was not in an obvious open location so it was not checked on a regular basis.
Last winter I found a stainless 10/22 with no stock sitting on the back of the old gun cabinet in the shop. My brother started looking for his gun and couldn't find it.
Of course no one knew where the gun had come from. Chronic boy of course had no knowledge of this gun... Even though I had caught him in the past with my ammunition and as a result moved all my gun stuff out of the shop.
The stock that I found was of course the stock to the missing 10/22. He had welded up a receiver and barrel out of scrap metal. He made a scope out of pipe fittings. It sort of looks like a cross between an H&K and an AK-47. He held it all together with a couple rolls of duct tape and black electrical tape.
There are a couple things which really piss me off about this.
Of course there is the theft of the 10/22 and the bizarre disconnect with reality. (Well, he didn't really steal it, no he borrowed it... and wrapped it with a lot of duct tape, and kind of messed up a very nice gun.)
Then there is the fact that it was not made out of "scrap" metal. The pipe fittings were new black pipe out of the store, not used stuff out of the used pipe department.
And the fact that no blame will be assigned, there will be no apology or confession. Instead he will used the modern tactic of denial in the face of all evidence-and he will sort of get away with it.
We went through this before when his brother broke the windows in all the old cars below the hill. Total denial and of course his parents backed him up. Despite the fact that he and his friends were the only people on the farm with wrist rocket slingshots and despite the fact that he had been cutting up old bearings for the steel balls earlier in the day.
Without a resolution there is no renewal of trust.
I didn't make a scene.
There would be this big inquisition. I would be questioned on how and when I found the gun. Chronic boy could never admit to playing with toy guns as a 20 something. Uncle would get all uptight. Chronic boy would deny it all.
I would then get really angry and there would be another scene. I would probably point out that we all know that he gets stoned out behind the shop and that he is lazy and kind of incompetent. And the discussion would go down hill from there. The thing is I really don't give a rip if he gets stoned and fakes an arm injury for access to painkillers. I just don't like him stealing.
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The thing that strikes me as strange is that he would butcher a REAL gun to make a fake one. As for the parents living in denial, my aunt did the same, and still does, even though her darling boy is now in prison for murder. Guess that's one of the dangers of living and working with family.
ReplyDeleteGorges, I think it has to do with his form of self delusion. Taking the real gun and shooting it would be wrong, but borrowing it with the intention of giving it back can be rationalized. It is the same with the dope smoking. The strength of the denial somehow makes the lie true. I've seen this with other kids, but I don't understand it. It is how he got through school and family life when younger.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the boy didn't see the backside of the woodshed enough when he was younger. My dad would threaten me with that anytime I was about to do something wrong. Here's where I admit the woodshed was at grandmas and we both knew it. Usually it was more of a spanking with a switch. The tree thingy, not the wall thing. Boy did that get your attention. Wouldn't be able to sit down the rest of the day. They would probably call that abuse these days.
ReplyDeleteAs for the pot stuff, I smoked it in my younger days. The stories I could tell. But this is your soapbox so I won't. They need to decriminalize it and tax the crap out of it. Some times doing it because it's illegal is what makes it worth doing.
Now then, do you really want a renewal of trust or would you rather "spank" the crap out of him until he's a quivering bowl of jelly cowering in the corner? What can you get away with, without hurting the family?
Time to start investing in padlocks.
or show the boy the woodshed.
Take care
Bobby.
Yep, padlocks. Is this character with any ambitions or prospects? Going to be underfoot and thickening the plot forever?
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with Bobby on the failure of prohibition. Seems like we collectively learned that once before, then proceeded to survive the dust bowl and Depression and whup the living beehonkers out of the Axis.
Chronic boy lives in two worlds I guess. A trip to the woodshed would probably not help as he got accustomed to random discipline as a child.
ReplyDeleteHe needs to go work for someone where he would get consistent positive rewards for good behavior and negative rewards for bad behavior. And no one to rationalize/excuse away the bad behavior. There is no way this can happen while working for family. It is really a shame as at times I think he is pretty smart. He has no self discipline and no clue he is doing a crappy job working on customer jobs.
As for the pot smoking. I really don't care. I think the denial is funny. He spends way more energy denying it than he does hiding it. That is funny.