Where have I been, and why haven't I been shooting?

[Terry C.]

I've been on a self-imposed hiatus of sorts, waiting out a resolution to a rather unpleasant situation I've let myself get sucked into.

If any of you have ever let spectators fire off any of your pieces, this could be you.


Divorce is bad, and when children are involved it gets especially nasty, and people involved in divorce will do crazy things to each other just out of spite. And often friends and even casual acquaintances are caught in the crossfire.

I was shooting the Napoleon at a friend-of-a-friend's house, who I just recently met and have not known long enough to be prepard for the 'stuff' that was about to hit the fan.

His soon to be ex-wife is batcrap crazy.

So the kid mixed up in this mess was there that weekend, and boys will be boys. He really wanted to shoot the cannon. It was fine with his dad, so I let him touch off a shot. He got a real kick out of it, everyone had fun and when I left I was sure that it had been a good day.

I didn't now that the new girlfriend (antagonist) was filming this on her cellphone camera.

About a week later I get a visit at work from a man in a suit. Seems the crackhead ex saw the photos, freaked out, and wants me prosecuted for 'endangering' her child. Everyone involved agrees that this is totally bogus, she's just making a big stink because of the impending divorce and custody fight, but I have to wait out the wheels of bureaucracy to make sure that this is going to go away.

In the meantime I've been keeping the artillery out of the limelight, and not saying or doing anything that might escalate the situation. It's pretty much over now, all parties involved have gone on to newer and bigger squabbles.


The really bad part is that I've been neglecting my real friends to keep a low profile. I should've been with my regular shooting buddies, but for a few weeks in a row we just couldn't seem to get everyone's schedule to jive. So I accepted the invitation to go and shoot at a virtual stranger's home and got a lot more than I bargained for.


I'm through slinking around. I've done nothing wrong, and these two idjits can go on with their messy little lives without me. I do feel sorry for the kid, though.


And I'm building again. More on that a little later...

[BoomLover]

Thanks for a great example of being careful these days of who we chose to associate with! Sorry this happened to you, but thanks for sharing it so it can act as a heads-up to all the rest of us. You know your friends here on the Forum, and the ones you usually go shooting with, those seem to be the best bet! You never know who is watching these days! If all the ducks are in a row as far as the legal mumbo-jumbo, then the rest will all shake out! BoomLver

[Victor3]

 That stinks, Terry. Glad nothing came of it.

 About a year ago you suggested that it might not be a good idea to display a mortar experiment for my Son's science fair project. Hearing your story confirms that it was good advice.

 We didn't display it, thinking that seeing a 9 year old (even though only watching from a distance as I lit the fuse) along with 1" lead balls and what some might mistakenly describe as a 'weapon' might get certain undies in a wad.

 Here are a couple of pics we were planning to use in the project...





 Still wanting to do something similar, we toned it down this year and used a 'toy' mortar and wood balls instead.





 Disclaimer - No chidren, pirates or undies were harmed in the making of this project. (a few <3/4" diameter snails didn't survive though). 

[gariders]

My grandson gets a kick out of running the sponge down the bore (of course I've already ran a very wet one down, let's be real here).  He's only seven and I want him to reach old age with all limbs attached.  But being a part of the gun / black powder culture is important, for me and for the future of our kids.  If not for our outlook on history and traditions our kids would only be able to learn from books and the movies, and we all know how 'correct' they are now.