The Rifle and my Brother

When you write a bit about either things you have experienced or the past it isn't always you that's the subject, it might well be others.

In this country gun ownership is not common and in the main there's not a hand me down culture to owning a weapon but that doesn't mean some boys don't wish for some sort of gun that isn't clearly identified with a sport.

My younger brother for a period had a mania for more "macho" things and one thing was various forms of air rifle so despite unease by Mum and myself, Dad bought him one when he was fifteen  and a bit.

Part of our unease was our rear garden unlike the front is narrow and adjacent to neighbours who at the time had younger children who played near the fence.

Dad had kind of suggested to point his target toward the apex of the fence at the far end of the boundary but my brother wasn't into boundaries and despite cautions by me he had it aimed more towards the centre and this lead to a police visit and a verbal caution as our neighbours feared for their children's lives.

That to me was obvious - a stray pellet could go through anything - but caused ructures between Dad and Mum and with our neighbours ever since.

If you are to given a rifle of any sort, you really need to be responsible with it and in my opinion he wasn't remotely ready for that.