<< Continued from previous page.

Now, as a boy, I once built a small plastic model of the USS Arizona and then, after the sense of accomplishment wore off, propped the model up in my backyard and fired away with my BB gun, just because it was a sort of dumb fun to shoot the thing.

What Matthew described was similar in theory, but of a different caliber in practice, caliber here being no metaphor. Out on his land, this fellow and his friends set up not plastic boats but real cars. (Old cars, but, still.) They open fire first with automatic weapons, then with bazookas. (Again, all legal with the registration and background check.) Finally, they turn the tank on what’s left of the car and, as Matthew put it, “make it go away.”

I should say in closing, and in sincerity, that Matthew couldn’t have seemed more personable or more reasonable, and that we had a very nice conversation.