Tommy Gun

On Cajun Pawn the other night, someone was trying to sell a Tommy Gun. They wanted $65K for that weapon that was made during WWI, but ended up sitting on docks in the United States at the end of the war. When I was a kid, my parents took me to Washington DC on vacation. One of the places we got to go to was the FBI Building. It was the old building. Some poor FBI agent who was probably in trouble, got to show us around the facility. There were probably only 6 to 8 people on the tour and I was the only kid. He took us down into the basement to show us the firing range. When we got down there, the range guy was loading up Tommy Guns for some sort of raid. Our guide got excited and asked if he could demonstrate one to the tourists. The range guy said OK, and handed him a Tommy Gun loaded with a 100 round canister. He acted like a kid with a new toy. He said he had never gotten to fire one of those guns. So, we went into the range in the basement. No ear plugs or any hearing protection. He let loose with a couple of burst from the Tommy Gun. As I recall, he made a happy yell. Empty shells were flying all over the place. I think he probably did a couple of more bursts before he turned around. He asked me if I wanted to shoot the Tommy Gun. Did I? He asked my parents and they said OK. So, he took me to the firing line. Gave me the gun and sort of stood behind me to make sure I didn't blast away at the tour, I suppose. I did a short burst, probably five rounds. It was awesome. He took back the Tommy Gun and said he had to return it to the range master. I picked up a few of the empty brass. I had those for quite a few years. Either my mother threw them out or I traded them for something. I was just a little kid, probably 10 or less. I doubt they let the kids shoot the guns at the FBI building any longer. I doubt you get to the firing range. I remember my ears rang for a couple of days. Ear plugs would have been a good idea. I have no idea if I hit the target, but I certainly knew how our tour guide felt when he got a chance to fire a Tommy Gun.

Barry Goldwater

I used to exchange letters with Barry Goldwater on a regular basis. He rarely agreed with me, but he always sent me a real letter, not the computer generated dribble that most politicians send you now. One time I wrote him about some issue. I got a pretty venomous letter in return. I got to wondering who wrote that letter out of his office, so one day I called his office to inquire about the response. A lady answered the phone. I identified myself and asked about the letter I sent to Mr. Goldwater. She was quiet for a moment and then she said "I told the Senator that he should not send you that letter." I was a bit surprised that Senator Goldwater had written that letter. She told me that he had. She said she held the response a day or two to see if he would change his mind. He did not, so she mailed it with trepidation. She then informed me that I was on the list. I asked what the list was. She said it was the people who Senator Goldwater wanted to see all the mail from. She told me it also allowed me to talk with Senator Goldwater. She said he was in the office and I could talk to him if I wanted. I could not think of anything to ask him. She laughed and said the Governor of Arizona was not even on the list. A few years later, I asked Senator Goldwater to see if there was a FBI file on me. He called me at work. He said he would be glad to ask, but he could not even find the FBI file on himself, so he held little hope that I would find anything. He said when those requests went to the FBI, the request was held and clerks got a list of names to pull the file. The files were then sent to other agencies. When the clerks were allowed to try to find the file, there was never a file, so the clerk could respond that the file did not exist. He imagined that after he died, the FBI file on Barry Goldwater would suddenly appear. Several years later, after Barry Goldwater's death, the file on him was released. All in all, it was pretty boring, but he was correct that there was one that remained slippery to find. After he was out of office, I once saw him at a car wash in Phoenix. I sat down next to him. I said I was surprised to see him getting his car washed. I figured he would have minions to do that. He said he did not even have minions when he was Senator. It was just him and his secretary that did all the work. He said he never had a very large staff like the people that replaced him.