The Gun
I have never owned a gun, I do not own a gun and I will never own a gun, but four times a gun has been an important part of my life.
Gun in my life # 1. I was the minister of the Christian Church in Coatesville, Indiana. I was near the center of town when a good friend, Marice Wingler, pulled up in his blue De Soda car and said "the bank about four miles from here across the street from my brother's service station was just held up. Jump in the car and we will go over there." I jumped in and we sped over country roads to get to his brother' service station. As we were speeding on our way a police car with lights flashing and siren blaring chased after us. Marice pulled over with the police car stopping right behind us. The cop opened his car door, using it as a shield, and aimed his gun right at us. Marice recognized the policeman as a neighbor and started yelling " its me, its me." It all ended very quickly as the officer told us that the getaway car was a blue Chrysler which look a lot like Marice's De Soda. It is not fun to have a policeman point a gun at you.
Gun in my life # 2. I was leaving one building in downtown San Diego to go across the street and enter another building. As I was headed through the parking lot a man shouted at me saying "lookout that man has a gun." I ducked behind a car as a man was shooting at anyone near him. A young lady was hit in the leg and was sitting on the curb of the street. The gunman then ran up to a man and shot him from about three feet away. The incident was only about four blocks from the police station and it seemed that policemen came from everywhere and apprehended the gunman.
I then realized that if a man had not yelled at me, and I ducked behind a car, that I would have been at the intersection just at the wrong time. Timing is everything.
Gun in my life #3. It was a hot day in San Diego. My son, David was to run in a track meet later that afternoon at Crawford High School. I was about an hour early so I stopped by a 7/11 store and got a coke, some chips and a newspaper. I drove the car and parked it under a shade tree near Colina park and started reading the newspaper, eating the chip and drinking the coke. As I was sitting n the car four high school looking kids pulled up next to me in their car. I looked up from the newspaper only to see a gun about two feet away pointed at my head. The young man said "give me all your money" I didn't know what to do so I kept on reading the newspaper. Again he said "give me all your money". I just sat there and continued reading.
Abruptly the car sped off with all four boys laughing and shouting. I got the car license number, but did not know if it was an attempted hold up or the boys had recognized me as David's dad and decided to have some fun with me.
The next day I went to the police station and reported the incident and gave them the license number. The car was registered to a person who robed a local store just a couple of weeks earlier. I will never know for sure what happened that day.
Gun in my life #4. A young navy couple were planning a wedding at the Wedding Bell Chapel. The problem was that the ex boyfriend did not like the idea. He pleaded with the bride to break off with the groom and not get married. She, of course had other ideas and the wedding was set and the date was approaching. The ex boy friend then came into the chapel and talked to Kitty, the wedding consultant, and threaten to stop the wedding one way or another. He said he would use a gun if that is what it would take. With that threat, Kitty phones me and I phones the police.
On the wedding day the young man came into the chapel just as the wedding was starting and sat down on the back row. Just as I started the ceremony I saw two police officers walk in the door, take, the young man by the arm, and led him to the foyer, frisked him, took a gun out of his pocket and then took him out of the chapel and into their car.
The wedding went on and nobody knew what happened except Kitty and me.
I have never owned a gun, I do not own a gun and I will never own a gun, but four times a gun has been an important part of my life.
