One of the paintball guys emailed me:
I agree with ryan that his "assault rifle" may have in fact been his M16 paintball gun replica. I wonder what the basis of him possible having a pistol is... General armed and dangerous description maybe? or do they figure that if he can get an assault weapon he can get a pistol....
I work early today, another poker tournament. I expect Dean will be the subject of gossip and wild rumours by now. If I can, I will get out early and come home to my kids.
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2 comments:
I was sitting in my office, which faces the street, when someone came by doing a drive by. All I could here was ping, ping, ping. Had I owned a weapon, everyone in that car would have died. Only later did I find the paintball splatters. Having done so, I would not have gone to jail.
So don't go off on the paintball defense.
I think that you are jumping to conclusions calling my post a "defense". You are describing a carload of kids indulging in malicious vandalism. I'm trying to figure out how the hardworking, personable kid who I've known (and admired) for years suddenly turns up "armed and dangerous" on the six o'clock news.
As it turns out, Dean did have a real gun, an AR 15, which he could buy legally as soon as he turned 18.
The "normal teen suddenly goes postal" storyline is a boon to the responsible adults, myself included, who should have been paying more attention to a kid who, in retrospect, had a ton of troubles on his shoulders. Our local paper wasted two days describing Dean's life as "normal", when a Google search would have yielded his Dad's recent obituary printed in the same paper. It wasn't until Dean turned himself in that the sheriff stopped repeating the "normal" line and said that his department had ruled the father's death a suicide.
Dave, I suspect you frustrated by your own paintabll experience and are looking for some help in condemning all paintballers. The paintball guys I speak of have a large farm field set up with blinds and obstacles that they have crafted out of found materials. The planning and building of the field is an exercise in ingenuity, cooperation, and penny-pinching. Most of them are both working and attending school. They have respect for property, their own and others' because they have had to work for whatever they have. You can read about one of the guys in my Christmas post, John sang the solo in church Christmas Eve.
Life is not so simple, I'm finding.
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