Chapter 37
Downtown at 3pm. I called the number from the classified ad, told the man who answered that I wanted to buy his gun. A Thompson submachine gun with a drum instead of a magazine – the classic version. He said he could sell me the ammo too, but warned me that the Thompson had been modified to comply with the law. It wouldn’t fire full-auto. I expressed philosophical resignation on this point, and we agreed on a price.
3:30pm at the guy’s house. I saw the gun, concluded that I definitely wanted to own it, and then endured a tirade from the seller about how ordinary citizens should be able to own any type of weapon they can afford, from a .22 to a Sherman tank. I expressed broad agreement on the main points to get him to shut up and just sell me the Thompson. He eventually did.
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