re: #158 Our Precious Bodily Fluids

Well stated (but terribly formatted) here: [Link: thefiringline.com…]

Which is why that guy died.

The only time my grandfather struck me was the second time I pointed a muzzle at him.

In my defense, I was 8 and I wasn’t aiming at him. I was with the Adults of the family while they went pheasant hunting, and the shotgun was getting a little heavy and awkward as I stumbled through the harvested cornfield. Of course, that defense is probably why he only struck me instead of trying to beat the crap out of me.

You see, my grandfather was a bit serious about firearm safety. Back when he was what we these days call a pre-teen, he and his brothers were out hunting and his brother shot him with what was supposedly an unloaded gun. Cut across the flat of the palm, severing every one of the inner tendons.

The doctor was a genius, though he didn’t appreciate it till he tried to enlist for WWI. Doctor said he’d so something he’d learned from a civil war doctor and stitched each of the major tendons back together, then told his mother that he needed to exercise it so he’d have some use. The hand was permanently cupped - couldn’t extend flat - but had enough use he could grip and carry. (And the thumb was fine.) As I said, when he tried to enlist in WWI he was rejected by the doctor and complained about the quack. “Son, you get down on your knees every day and thank God for that quack. If it’d been me I’d have cut it off.”

Yeah, my grandfather was a bit perturbed when people pointed muzzles in anyone’s direction. He managed to pass that along to all his kids and most of his grandkids.