That's eerie..The tale of a .38

John Lennon was shot 25 years ago with this gun. Unearthing a relic of a violent time. On December 8, 1980, at about 10:45 p.m., John Lennon and Yoko Ono were returning to their apartment at the Dakota when Mark David Chapman, who had earlier that day gotten Lennon’s autograph, called out his name again. “Mr. Lennon.” Lennon turned and was shot twice in the back and twice in the shoulder with a Charter Arms .38-caliber pistol.

I was listening to the news a few minutes ago and they mentioned that Mark David Chapman had shot John Lennon 25 years ago today, December 8, 1980, with a "Charter Arms .38 caliber pistol". I bought that same pistol, and still have it, in probably late December 1980 or January of 1981. A month or so after Lennon's murder and I didn't know until a few minutes ago that the gun I bought was the same one used by Chapman. I bought the gun shortly after a young woman, Sarai Ribicoff, was murdered in cold blood on the streets of Venice, California, in November 1980. I was living at the time in Santa Monica, which shares its southern city boundary with Venice. Ms. Ribicoff was the niece of Senator Ribicoff from Connecticut. Two young black men pounced on Ms. Ribicoff and her boyfriend as they were leaving a restaurant. One of the men grabbed Ribicoff from behind and held the pistol to her back while they demanded the boyfriend turn over his wallet. Both the boyfriend and Sarai did what was asked of them but the thug tragically shot her dead through the back. The bullet went through her and into the hand of the assailant who had her in a half bear hug. The idiot went to an emergency room in Marina Del Rey later that evening and was arrested. I decided after that senseless murder that I wasn't going out on the town with my wife anymore without being armed. You always thought that if that situation arose you would just comply and hand over to the punks what they wanted. But it changed for me with the murder of Sarai Ribicoff and I never went anywhere out with my wife without my .38 neatly tucked away. Many times if I had on a jacket and was walking the streets of Santa Monica, Venice, or LA my right hand was in my pocket, on the trigger...ready... My wife wasn't going to end up like Sarai Ribicoff. I still have the pistol. Hardly ever carry it anymore but it's loaded and fairly accessible. Same gun as the one that killed John Lennon and bought right around the same time...just a little bit of irony, I guess...