General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm 55 years old and have never owned a gun in my life. [View all]Warpy
(111,255 posts)when I knew a junkie named Fred. Fred was a typical end stage, hard core heroin addict, a feature of the neighborhood. Most of the burglaries were being done by Fred, but he was a gent who'd leave passports and important stuff taped to the mirror so folks would know where it was after he tossed their places. I think he was afraid of me because my apartment was the only one in my building that hadn't been hit, not that I had anything much to steal. It was a little embarrassing.
Anyway, when I'd go over to Fred's place, his girlfriend being one of my nearest and dearest in Boston, I'd stand at the wall and reach around to knock on the door in case Fred was having one of his paranoid days The front door was graced with more than one bullet hole from those.
Fred got all his guns from the same place: he stole them when he ripped off responsible and legal gun owners. He had a lot of guns and none of them had been bought, even on the street.
Fred taught me that the problem started with me, that the best way to keep guns off the street was to refuse to have any laying around for bad guys to steal. He taught me a whole lot of other stuff, good for a green as grass suburban cracker from the south gone to the big city. He died from an OD a couple of years after I first knew him and believe it or not, the world is a poorer place without him.
Fred is the reason I never owned a gun even back in the good old days when I could mostly see. Oh, and that knowing Fred made me a lot less afraid of living in the big, mean city alone. If I could survive him, I could survive anyone or anything.