The Gun Went Off...In the House

Lance shot this off IN our home. No lie.

In case you don't know guns, let me relieve your tension just a bit.

This is only an air pistol BB gun; however, something still comes out of end of the barrel - and - Lance did fire it off in my kitchen.

In the last year we've introduced Cannon to his own BB gun (rifle style) and he's used it quite a bit. He's actually very safe with it - careful to always keep it pointed towards the ground and his finger off of the trigger unless he's shooting.

For Christmas, I got Lance a 9mm handgun - so to match daddy, Cannon got a pistol style BB gun.

The first pistol style BB gun that was purchased had to be returned because something about it kept jamming. A few days later, after the replacement was purchased, Lance sat down at the table with the new gun and the directions. Upon reading everything carefully and piecing everything together (including loading it with BB's) he took the BB pistol outside to shoot it in to the grass...just to be sure it worked (unlike the first one).

The gun didn't work. Every BB fell directly out of the end of the barrel as though it was a 5 lb weight. Bloop.

Lance continued to shoot each BB so he could empty the gun and then came back in to reread the directions.

What had he done wrong?

He made the adjustments to the BB pistol according to what he understood from the "reread". He planned to dry fire the pistol (since he'd emptied the BB's in the yard) so he quickly turned the gun towards the carpet under the kitchen table (which all sits upon a tile floor) and he pulled.the.trigger.

Let me sssssllllllooooooow down a bit to recreate the scene. We're all three sitting at the kitchen table - Cannon and I both eating lunch. I'm enjoying my mile high sandwich...Cannon is drowning every nugget in ketchup. We're both intently watching every move Lance makes simply because we're all interested in the new purchase.

Cannon and I had both watched the 1st failed attempt in the yard...when the BB's all fell out of the gun. Elsie was even sniffing out all the action.

We continued to watch Lance as he made the necessary adjustments and we were waiting for him to fill the pistol back up with BB's and head back to the yard to once again fire the pistol in the grass.

But we hadn't quite made it that far in his gun assembly when Cannon witnessed a hands-on, hard core lesson.

So, where was I? Oh ya. After the 1st failed attempt to load and shoot the gun, he came back in side and sat down across the kitchen table from Cannon and I. He made the necessary adjustments and made sure the gun was BB free. He then quickly used his right hand and pointed the pistol towards the carpet under the table on his side....and intended to dry fire.

I'll never forget the back and forth ping!-shing!-ding!-ring! I heard around my kitchen as we sat together at the table - Cannon and I with frozen mouths full of food.

We were in shock! Did that really just happen? Cannon jumped up and retrieved the TWO BB's from opposite sides of the kitchen and all I remember Lance saying is, "Well. Cannon. That's exactly why you ALWAYS pretend like there is a bullet in the gun...even when you think you know there isn't".

Cannon began "chew'n" on his daddy as though the roles were reversed! Cannon couldn't believe his daddy had done such a thing!

Apparently what had happened was....remember when the 1st attempt to fire the gun resulted in the BB's falling directly out of the barrel and in to the grass? Well, obviously not all of the BB's fell out. The "chamber" where the BB's are held was empty, so Lance assumed the gun was empty. But two little BB's were still hanging out in the barrel and Lance couldn't' see those.

Lesson learned. For both Lemberg boys!