Suzi,

I'm going to be blunt here, because I'm actually terrified on your behalf. And I get really blunt when I'm terrified (like my mother).

If you do not own firearms currently (and I guess I'm assuming you don't because you don't already have a gun safe), and don't have *significant* training in how to handle guns, then your house and CJ's training is not sufficient to have a gun in the house. I would say that if he were 18 years old. More people die from guns than in motor vehicle accidents.

[link]

In my view, given this stat, you have to be MORE vigilant about gun ownership than automobile driving - especially for a minor. Introducing a gun in the home puts *you* more at risk, puts your sun more at risk, and any visitors to your home. Even under the best of intentions, the daily violence from guns is staggering. For instance, at least once a week nationally a police officer injures himself from an accidental gun discharge.

CJ can learn how to handle a weapon without owning one, if that's his aim. He can do so without a weapon being in the house.

Good luck dealing with this, but if your inclination is to shut the whole thing down and confiscate the gun, I complete support you in this.

No response from my last text to him, but I don't really expect one. I haven't heard from K-Bug either.

I have no problem saying the words "I'm sorry"...but not to a petulant child. "I'm sorry you don't like me talking to my daughter"?, "I'm sorry you are a manipulative douchenozzle"?, "I'm sorry you can't face me to talk with me in person"?, "I'm sorry you are a freeloader"?, "I'm sorry you can't be a stand up guy and respect my concerns and prove me wrong"?, "I'm sorry you don't understand the basics of respect"?

or "I'm sorry you're a miserable person and your misery demand company"?

Went to college with a guy whose sister referred to him as an amateur human being. Sounds like you've found another.

Thanks le nub. I'm trying to wrap my brain about what my concerns are.

It is a rifle, not a handgun. It has a lock through it and is missing it's firing mechanism. Plus we have no ammo. There is no way it can be fired. CJ does know gun safety. He has learned it from the police as part of his Search and Rescue training. He has also done target shooting with friends I trust.

My emotions about the bf are off the charts negative on many levels. As they relate to the rifle, my current feeling is I'm more upset at how it came to be here than it being here. I trust CJ.

Teppy, I hope your severance pay is good enough to put your mind at ease for a while.

I'll be eligible for unemployment, too, on August 2 (they're paying us through August 1).

Things are far from bleak. I just like my comfortable rut and having my path laid out for me, and now I don't have much of a comfortable rut any more. Tim is my comfortable rut. (Romantic, no? But right now I need him to be my comfortable rut. Or...he's my comfortable happy place where everything makes sense.)

And you guys. You're my comfortable happy place where everything makes sense.

Do you trust the bf not to hand CJ the firing pin and ammo any time you're not around?

This really feels like a specific move to fuck with you and assert more control over your family. It's really disturbing.

Considering how much you hate him, it does take a perverse kind of guts to put a gun in your house.

This really feels like a specific move to fuck with you and assert more control over your family. It's really disturbing.

That's my feeling. I sort of want to write K-Bug an email, too.

This really feels like a specific move to fuck with you and assert more control over your family. It's really disturbing.

This. Everything you say about him sets off so many alarm bells, Suzi. Wish there was an easy way to get your daughter to wake up and see what a manipulative loser he is.

Right now I want to get the bolt from him. Stash it in my underwear drawer or something.

Beyond that, my head is a mess. I have work, lots of stuff to do for ARP, this crap, and getting ready for vacation (the road trip is back on - just reduced from the original plan). Too much.