You know, the sparkling old dude has always betrayed a certain sort of fear about firearms.
Yes, yes, it's a good thing to be respectful of firearms, but the sparkling old dude's fear of them has always struck me as peculiar. And remember, I've known the sparkling old dude for more than a dozen years now, with lots of chances to observe him.
It strikes me as the fear of something with which one's been threatened before.
The sparkling old dude's no innocent; a hardened veteran of the U.S. Navy and then later an officer in the Naval Reserves, he's undoubtedly dealt with firearms and knows how to use them.
I wonder if by growing up on the organized-crime infested streets of Bridgeport, Connecticut during the 1950s, something happened.