Family History of a .22 rifle Dad owned

Below is an account of events in our family surrounding a .22 rifle Dad owned,

The .22 Rifle.

I grew up, in what my mothers thinks was a pretty normal rural life, my dad owned a 22 rifle, that thinking about it, had quite a history in our family, the 1st stories I heard about it, happened before i was born, but it's been agreed that they happened.



This gun was used several times to kill sick or injured cows and horses, during those years, and I learned to shoot it when I was about 10 or 11. I remember shooting at rabbits, I don't think I actually got one... And my brothers used it for possum shooting, just normal things to do with a gun right... To give you some prospective, the 1st story happened in about 1961. .. as i said, that .22 rifle had a history...



1. My eldest brother had a pet dog, and fox terrier called Trixie, one day when my brother was about 4, he was over at the yards, watching Dad break in a young horse, Trixie was with my brother, something happened, and Trixie started barking, right when the horse went past, the young horse got a fright and jumped over the fence, ripping it's stomach open, apparently it's intestines came out and dragged on the ground as it ran around the paddock.

Dad was understandably angry, and ran into the house, grabbed the gun, and shot the horse, and then Trixie, right in front of my brother.



2. Moving right along, my second eldest brother Toby, got scared about something when he was 3 or 4 I think, so this would have been 8 ti 20 or so months later, anyway, Toby hid under the house, my dad again got the .22 and shot it under the house to "frighten Toby out"....



3. I was next in the family, when I was 4, Mother and Dad had a massive big fight,(nothing new) mother got us out of bed, and told us. with my younger brother who was 18 months younger than me, to run over to the cowshead and hide.



We did, and listened to them fighting for ages, eventually Dad came over, and brought us back to the house, he was carrying the .22, Once home, he lined us up, and said he was going to shoot us, and asked who wanted to go 1st. Instead of being scared, us older kids started fighting about who was going to go 1st, we all wanted to be the No 1... This stunned Dad, and he lost the urge.



4. When my younger brother was about 4, we were playing with the .22 playing cops and robbers i think, anyway we were taking turns at shooting each other... the safety catch was on, anyway my it was my younger brothers turn, and being little he had trouble picking the whole rifle up, and dropped it on a concert floor, and must have it pointed towards the bed, and he pulled the trigger, and and bloody thing was loaded, and went off, we think, when he dropped it, it must have knocked the safety catch off, no-one was hurt, but hell we got a good hiding ( hit repeatedly) from both our parents for that...



5. 3 years or so later, my second brother was about 11 or 12 at the time i think, decided to shoot himself, no-one was home, and he took the .22 out to the back doorstep, and was finding a way to turn a rifle on himself and pull the trigger, when mother and us kids apparently came home...



6. about a year after that, my Mother planned to shoot Dad, she had all us kids in on it, and we had the .22 loaded, safety off, and hiding between the mattress and the wall, where mother planned to grab it from.
Mother did try to shoot Dad that night, but dad pushed the gun upwards, and the bullet when into the ceiling...

7. Again another 4 or so years later, I planned to shot Dad, cause he wouldn't let me watch a TV program. I waited until he came home from his nightshift job, I aimed it out the window, aimed it at his head, pulled the trigger, but the darn safety button was on, and it just clicked, so the moment passed.



8. You guessed about 4 years after that, my eldest brother took that gun, and used it to hold up the Te Puna Hotel bottle store, he didn't shoot it, but scared the hell out of the woman that was working the bottle store.

I don't remember any other history with that bloody .22 but still 8 traumatic episodes in about 14 years is ... well i don't know what to call it. I guess our lives could have been a lot... different if not for that safety button huh.
These were the only normal/traumatic events in our childhoods, not by any stretch of the imagination, these examples are just to do with that gun.
I wonder what effects those events had on us kids. Any thoughts??

Could this be why I’m a couch serial killer, My eldest brother is said to have told stories of him being a serial killer, maybe ...

All I know, is it seems that its just a darn shame that safety catch was on in the 3th episode, maybe this mess of a story could have ended right there for me.