WEBVTT - 2025 Update: Scott 0:00:15.210 --> 0:00:22.090 Pushkin Stevie Lay and I'd like to welcome you into 0:00:22.090 --> 0:00:26.330 the studio. Thanks for being here. Oh, I'm recording. I 0:00:26.370 --> 0:00:26.850 hope you know. 0:00:27.130 --> 0:00:28.410 Oh, thank you for telling me. 0:00:28.730 --> 0:00:30.810 Okay, so I have your verbal consent. 0:00:31.170 --> 0:00:32.330 Yes, I'm opting in. 0:00:32.409 --> 0:00:33.530 Okay, so I'm recording. 0:00:33.730 --> 0:00:34.809 I'm also recording. 0:00:35.170 --> 0:00:37.370 I don't remember being asked for my consent. 0:00:38.690 --> 0:00:40.770 Jonathan, can I record? 0:00:41.250 --> 0:00:41.450 Yes? 0:00:41.489 --> 0:00:43.250 You may, Thank you, Jonathan. 0:00:44.370 --> 0:00:47.570 So we're gonna be re listening to an encore presentation 0:00:47.930 --> 0:00:50.809 of an episode that we did or that you know 0:00:50.849 --> 0:00:56.010 you produced six years ago about a man named Scott. Yes, 0:00:56.330 --> 0:00:59.850 and here's a little glimpse behind the curtain. There's a 0:00:59.850 --> 0:01:04.569 lot of investigation. Yes, that takes place, and you're captain 0:01:04.810 --> 0:01:07.610 of the heavyweight investigative Bureau. 0:01:08.250 --> 0:01:11.010 I love attending that my job is a PI. 0:01:11.410 --> 0:01:13.250 Well, it's kind of. I mean, it's like it is. 0:01:13.810 --> 0:01:16.690 That's what I did a lot of research I did. 0:01:16.930 --> 0:01:21.209 I will say that this is an episode that genuinely 0:01:21.250 --> 0:01:24.770 at every turn we were surprised by what happened. 0:01:25.170 --> 0:01:26.450 Yeah, and that was. 0:01:26.410 --> 0:01:29.330 Really I feel like that was like really fun while 0:01:29.370 --> 0:01:31.530 making it. Yeah, but like I do feel that that 0:01:31.690 --> 0:01:34.530 translates into the story in a really amazing way. 0:01:34.970 --> 0:01:37.250 Yeah, and at the very end, I'm going to catch 0:01:37.330 --> 0:01:40.130 up with Scott. We're going to find out where in 0:01:40.170 --> 0:01:42.250 his life he is all these years later. 0:01:42.850 --> 0:01:46.890 So I guess should should we play it for the people. 0:01:46.850 --> 0:01:50.810 Without a do or a don't? Let's sit back, pop 0:01:50.890 --> 0:01:53.610 the foot, rest on your bark a lounger and enjoy. 0:01:54.010 --> 0:01:56.610 But oh, sorry, did I scare you? 0:01:56.690 --> 0:01:57.210 No? 0:01:57.210 --> 0:01:57.330 No? 0:01:57.530 --> 0:01:59.770 Okay, well I just wanted to. Sorry I got excited. 0:01:59.810 --> 0:02:13.010 But first a word from our sponsors. Let's play truth 0:02:13.090 --> 0:02:16.889 or dare? Okay, go ahead, No, Jackie, you cut out. 0:02:16.930 --> 0:02:18.769 You cut out. I couldn't hear if you said truth 0:02:18.890 --> 0:02:20.090 or dare? Which one did you say? 0:02:20.370 --> 0:02:20.570 No? 0:02:20.770 --> 0:02:24.010 I'm not willing, I'm not interested. I don't want to play. 0:02:24.050 --> 0:02:28.610 Have you ever have you ever peed in a shower? 0:02:29.810 --> 0:02:33.770 Tell the truth? Have you ever peed in a shower? Jackie. 0:02:34.370 --> 0:02:36.890 That's just not a question, John, is it? 0:02:36.930 --> 0:02:38.049 Because the answer is yes? 0:02:38.770 --> 0:02:39.370 Affirmative? 0:02:39.530 --> 0:02:41.290 Okay? Have you ever peed in a bathtub? 0:02:41.970 --> 0:02:42.450 Negative? 0:02:42.970 --> 0:02:44.370 You've never peed in a bathtub. 0:02:44.530 --> 0:02:46.610 That's disgusting. Why would you peel on yourself? 0:02:46.730 --> 0:02:48.410 I'm not saying that I did you did? 0:02:48.810 --> 0:02:49.770 You just said no? 0:02:49.810 --> 0:02:53.209 I didn't? Okay, Okay, you you were surprised because I'm 0:02:53.210 --> 0:02:53.970 not in the hot seat. 0:02:54.490 --> 0:02:55.730 You are, You're not. 0:02:56.690 --> 0:02:57.690 We're having a conversation. 0:02:57.770 --> 0:02:59.930 I want to have a we are having a conversation. Okay, 0:02:59.970 --> 0:03:01.650 you could do you want to get read the conversation 0:03:11.690 --> 0:03:16.170 from Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight 0:03:16.850 --> 0:03:32.570 Today's episode. Scott. Okay, we're rolling. So Scott, first of all, 0:03:32.610 --> 0:03:35.650 thank you. Maybe the thing to do would go on 0:03:36.690 --> 0:03:38.970 if you're lucky. The mistakes you make as you move 0:03:39.050 --> 0:03:42.930 through life are small and harmless, calling your teacher mommy, 0:03:43.450 --> 0:03:47.850 leaving gum in your jeans in the wash, or talking 0:03:47.890 --> 0:03:51.650 over the person you're trying to talk to. No, no, sorry, sure, 0:03:51.890 --> 0:03:55.730 hang on a second, Yeah, yeah, tell me more, Scott. 0:03:57.450 --> 0:04:00.570 But the mistake Scott made wasn't the small kind. It 0:04:00.650 --> 0:04:03.930 was the big kind. Big because it hurt his dad, 0:04:04.370 --> 0:04:07.250 one of the people Scott loves most, and he's been 0:04:07.250 --> 0:04:10.610 trying to fix that mistake for the past eight years. 0:04:11.450 --> 0:04:14.090 For Scott, the story all begins when he was a kid, 0:04:14.530 --> 0:04:16.570 which is when he first discovered drugs. 0:04:16.930 --> 0:04:19.089 The first one was weed, I know, that was when 0:04:19.089 --> 0:04:22.930 I was thirteen, and then alcohol, and then it quickly 0:04:23.010 --> 0:04:26.089 kind of descended from there. So I first did cocaine 0:04:26.169 --> 0:04:28.770 when I was fourteen fifteen, first did meth when I 0:04:28.770 --> 0:04:31.170 was about fifteen, and then it was around that same 0:04:31.210 --> 0:04:32.330 time that I found opiates. 0:04:33.049 --> 0:04:36.289 Scott's mom suffered from chronic pain and there were always 0:04:36.369 --> 0:04:40.010 pills in her medicine cabinet, stuff like OxyContin and fentanyl. 0:04:40.369 --> 0:04:42.849 It is this feeling of like finding a missing piece 0:04:42.890 --> 0:04:46.049 to a puzzle. All of the sudden, my anxiety was gone. 0:04:46.210 --> 0:04:48.849 I didn't have as much self doubt, and I was 0:04:48.890 --> 0:04:52.969 able to speak my mind and connect and talk and 0:04:53.049 --> 0:04:57.770 approach girls. And at the time it really felt like 0:04:57.890 --> 0:05:03.210 a cheat code that I would have for life. 0:05:01.570 --> 0:05:05.010 And for a while it worked. Scott graduated high school, 0:05:05.130 --> 0:05:07.690 then college, and found his way into a job as 0:05:07.690 --> 0:05:10.569 a well paid graphic designer, but he was still using 0:05:10.650 --> 0:05:13.609 drugs the way he always had to manage his anxiety 0:05:13.690 --> 0:05:16.409 and make friends, like the friend who got him to 0:05:16.409 --> 0:05:18.049 shoot heroin for the first time. 0:05:18.369 --> 0:05:20.169 And I say friend now by looking back on it, 0:05:20.210 --> 0:05:23.770 we weren't necessarily friends at all. But he said, if 0:05:23.770 --> 0:05:26.130 you can give me a ride to go pick up 0:05:26.130 --> 0:05:28.849 some drugs, then I'll give you some for your trouble. 0:05:29.210 --> 0:05:33.489 And so we're driving down I seventy. He's in shotgun. 0:05:33.570 --> 0:05:35.930 I'm in the driver's seat with my arm extended out 0:05:35.969 --> 0:05:38.809 over the middle part of the car as he shoots 0:05:38.810 --> 0:05:43.369 me up for the first time, and I instantly passed 0:05:43.369 --> 0:05:46.369 out and kind of swerved across three lanes before he 0:05:46.450 --> 0:05:48.290 grabbed the wheel, and then I kind of came back 0:05:48.330 --> 0:05:57.210 to a foot away from hitting a guard rail that 0:05:57.409 --> 0:06:01.089 right there just threw gasoline onto the fire. It went 0:06:01.130 --> 0:06:03.370 from you know, doing it on the weekends once or 0:06:03.409 --> 0:06:06.210 twice a month, to doing it every weekend, to doing 0:06:06.250 --> 0:06:08.729 it every few days to every other day. 0:06:09.849 --> 0:06:12.370 Within a year, Scott lost his job and moved into 0:06:12.369 --> 0:06:15.770 his dad's basement, back into his childhood home in Colorado. 0:06:16.250 --> 0:06:18.529 He still needed to get high every day and now 0:06:18.570 --> 0:06:21.609 had no money. There were boxes in the basement filled 0:06:21.609 --> 0:06:24.330 with old jewelry and silverware, stuff that had belonged to 0:06:24.330 --> 0:06:27.930 Scott's mom before she'd passed away, So Scott started stealing 0:06:27.969 --> 0:06:30.610 stuff from the boxes to bring to a pawnshop down 0:06:30.650 --> 0:06:33.929 the road. He figured an item or two wouldn't be missed, 0:06:34.409 --> 0:06:36.770 but pretty soon it became a daily thing. 0:06:37.489 --> 0:06:39.529 All the while, the voice in the back of my 0:06:39.570 --> 0:06:42.650 head was still there, knowing what was right and was wrong, 0:06:42.770 --> 0:06:44.969 and so I felt immense guilt. 0:06:45.409 --> 0:06:48.089 Soon the boxes were empty, and Scott began to eye 0:06:48.169 --> 0:06:52.010 other things, things right out in the open, things that 0:06:52.049 --> 0:06:53.450 belonged to his dad. 0:06:53.690 --> 0:06:55.529 So like a radio on the shelf, just right there 0:06:55.529 --> 0:06:59.650 in the living room, taking that, and then a baseball 0:07:00.210 --> 0:07:04.210 signed by the early thirties New York Yankees, you know, 0:07:04.210 --> 0:07:06.529 Babe Ruth and Louke Eric and everything like that. 0:07:07.369 --> 0:07:09.570 Did your dad know what was going on? 0:07:10.410 --> 0:07:13.130 I mean, my dad is a very unique person. He's 0:07:13.210 --> 0:07:18.009 kind of like chronically petrified of direct conversations, you know. 0:07:18.050 --> 0:07:20.129 I remember, even as a kid, he would have me 0:07:20.369 --> 0:07:22.330 order the pizza, you know, when we were ordering a 0:07:22.369 --> 0:07:24.170 pizza or something like that, because he didn't want to 0:07:24.170 --> 0:07:25.290 talk to the person on the phone. 0:07:26.330 --> 0:07:30.090 So Scott's dad never brought up the missing stuff until 0:07:30.330 --> 0:07:32.410 Scott started taking money. 0:07:32.570 --> 0:07:34.330 I knew right where his checkbook was, you know, it 0:07:34.369 --> 0:07:36.369 was right there on the secretary by the front door. 0:07:36.570 --> 0:07:40.249 And I had a light table where I put down 0:07:40.290 --> 0:07:42.330 a piece of paperwork that I'd found with his signature 0:07:42.330 --> 0:07:43.610 on it, and then put the check over it and 0:07:43.650 --> 0:07:44.690 kind of traced over it. 0:07:45.369 --> 0:07:48.569 The checks were small, sixty dollars here and there, but 0:07:48.650 --> 0:07:52.050 soon the account was thousands of dollars overdrawn, so his 0:07:52.130 --> 0:07:54.650 dad had to make a decision. It was one thing 0:07:54.690 --> 0:07:57.530 for a clock to go missing, another thing entirely for 0:07:57.530 --> 0:08:00.490 his savings to disappear. So the man who couldn't bring 0:08:00.530 --> 0:08:03.170 himself to pick up the phone to order pizza, picked 0:08:03.250 --> 0:08:06.970 up the phone and reported his son to the police. 0:08:07.610 --> 0:08:09.090 So then they piled me into the back of the 0:08:09.330 --> 0:08:11.569 police car and then brought me to the jail. 0:08:13.570 --> 0:08:14.970 Were you scared at this point? 0:08:15.690 --> 0:08:19.250 I was petrified. I was petrified of the legal consequences 0:08:19.290 --> 0:08:20.970 I had, but I think I was equally or more 0:08:21.010 --> 0:08:23.489 petrified of the detox that I knew that was coming. 0:08:25.010 --> 0:08:28.410 I remember scrawling out the hours I was sober on 0:08:28.489 --> 0:08:31.569 a little jail house notepad that they give you, And 0:08:31.730 --> 0:08:33.650 you know, I was doing three hundred dollars a day 0:08:33.690 --> 0:08:36.410 of heroin at that point. So it was a really, really, 0:08:36.450 --> 0:08:45.930 really bad withdraw There was just a series of horrible 0:08:46.010 --> 0:08:49.330 days where I just couldn't stop crying. I would have 0:08:49.410 --> 0:08:53.690 these kind of vivid dreams of seeing family or being happy, 0:08:54.290 --> 0:08:56.410 and then wake up to realize I'm still in a 0:08:56.490 --> 0:08:57.090 jail cell. 0:08:58.490 --> 0:09:01.290 A couple of weeks into his detention, a garbled voice 0:09:01.330 --> 0:09:04.290 came over the loud speaker. Scott had a visitor. 0:09:04.850 --> 0:09:06.530 Nobody had visited me yet, and so I thought it 0:09:06.570 --> 0:09:08.810 was a mistake at first. So I go up there 0:09:08.810 --> 0:09:10.770 and there's my dad come to visit me. 0:09:12.450 --> 0:09:18.330 But Scott's father wasn't there to offer support. He was 0:09:18.370 --> 0:09:20.370 there to present his son with a list of all 0:09:20.370 --> 0:09:24.090 the things he'd stolen. The radios, the watch collection, the 0:09:24.130 --> 0:09:28.730 family silver. It was two columns containing some fifty items, 0:09:29.410 --> 0:09:32.850 and at the very top of the page. 0:09:31.890 --> 0:09:38.570 His most prized possession, the luger, this German pistol that 0:09:38.690 --> 0:09:41.610 my grandfather had taken off of a German in World 0:09:41.690 --> 0:09:47.850 War II. This gun was something that I knew was 0:09:47.890 --> 0:09:51.809 like his pride and joy. That was like the quintessential 0:09:51.930 --> 0:09:54.610 memento and the biggest piece that my dad had to 0:09:54.610 --> 0:09:58.050 remember his dad by. And so that was the one 0:09:58.050 --> 0:10:00.370 big thing that I had promised myself that I would 0:10:00.410 --> 0:10:02.970 never take, and I took it. 0:10:10.930 --> 0:10:13.170 Of all the things Scott had stolen from his dad, 0:10:13.570 --> 0:10:16.330 of all the mistakes he'd made, this is the one 0:10:16.370 --> 0:10:17.410 he regrets most. 0:10:19.250 --> 0:10:23.610 I've only seen my father cry when his dad passed away, 0:10:24.250 --> 0:10:28.410 when my mom passed away, And in that jail when 0:10:28.450 --> 0:10:31.050 he was telling me about him knowing about the gun 0:10:31.050 --> 0:10:37.170 and being gone. You know, this was a piece of 0:10:37.250 --> 0:10:40.090 his father that he thought he would be able to 0:10:40.090 --> 0:10:42.290 hold on to for the rest of his life. And 0:10:42.330 --> 0:10:45.330 I sold for fourteen hundred dollars worth of drugs. 0:10:47.850 --> 0:10:51.410 For four months, Scott sat in jail awaiting trial. When 0:10:51.410 --> 0:10:54.330 he was finally sentenced, the judge decided to dismiss the 0:10:54.450 --> 0:10:57.730 charges if Scott completed this two year treatment program that 0:10:57.850 --> 0:11:01.410 was modeled on rehab programs from the seventies. Scott would 0:11:01.410 --> 0:11:03.290 have to shave his head and scrub the floors with 0:11:03.290 --> 0:11:06.850 a toothbrush, that kind of thing. The judge told Scott 0:11:06.890 --> 0:11:09.370 that of the roughly three hundred people he'd sent there, 0:11:09.810 --> 0:11:11.290 none had made it through. 0:11:11.850 --> 0:11:15.290 So that was encouraging right at the very beginning. But 0:11:15.370 --> 0:11:18.010 I was like, get me in. Whatever I need to do, 0:11:18.490 --> 0:11:19.690 I'm going to do it. 0:11:21.210 --> 0:11:24.250 After two years, Scott walked out of the facility and 0:11:24.290 --> 0:11:27.850 he's been clean since. He has a wife, two young kids, 0:11:27.970 --> 0:11:31.130 and a job at a residential treatment facility in Colorado 0:11:31.410 --> 0:11:34.929 where he works with addicts and their families. He's trying 0:11:34.930 --> 0:11:36.850 to make up for who he used to be by 0:11:36.850 --> 0:11:40.250 paying it forward, but there's one person he's never been 0:11:40.290 --> 0:11:41.210 able to pay back. 0:11:42.290 --> 0:11:45.690 I have all but forgiven myself for a lot of 0:11:45.690 --> 0:11:48.330 the things that I've done in the past, but this 0:11:48.530 --> 0:11:51.250 is one thing that, no matter the amount of counseling, 0:11:51.410 --> 0:11:55.450 it still bothers me on the deepest level that I 0:11:55.530 --> 0:11:56.730 did this to my dad. 0:11:58.010 --> 0:12:00.850 So about five years ago, Scott took his dad's list 0:12:00.890 --> 0:12:03.490 of the stolen items and set off to recover the 0:12:03.570 --> 0:12:05.450 luger along with everything else. 0:12:06.050 --> 0:12:07.850 So I went to the old antique stores that I 0:12:07.930 --> 0:12:09.890 used to go to. I went to the old sports 0:12:09.930 --> 0:12:12.450 memorabilia spot to see if I could track down the 0:12:12.490 --> 0:12:13.770 baseball that I had sold. 0:12:14.490 --> 0:12:18.050 He succeeded in getting some things back, a Crossley antique radio, 0:12:18.210 --> 0:12:21.690 a Ham radio, and that Christmas, with his sister, all 0:12:21.730 --> 0:12:25.130 his aunts and uncles gathered round, Scott surprised his dad 0:12:25.170 --> 0:12:28.730 with the items he'd recovered. Scott was feeling pretty proud 0:12:28.770 --> 0:12:31.930 of himself until Uncle Bill piped up. 0:12:32.610 --> 0:12:35.930 And my uncle, you know, basically says, well, he's the luger. 0:12:36.170 --> 0:12:37.490 In there is the luger, one of the things that 0:12:37.490 --> 0:12:38.250 you were able to get back. 0:12:39.210 --> 0:12:42.850 Uncle Bill was close with Scott's grandfather, like him, he'd 0:12:42.850 --> 0:12:45.970 also served in the military. He believed the luger should 0:12:46.010 --> 0:12:49.170 have been his to begin with, not a little brothers. 0:12:49.410 --> 0:12:53.210 And I was like, no, no, I wasn't able to 0:12:53.210 --> 0:12:55.570 find that. And then that led to probably about a 0:12:55.610 --> 0:12:58.570 ten minute spiel of his about how important that gun 0:12:58.730 --> 0:13:01.450 was to him. And I remember the day when I 0:13:01.450 --> 0:13:04.250 found out that that was stolen. It still bothers me 0:13:04.410 --> 0:13:06.930 and and it was just like in the middle of 0:13:07.010 --> 0:13:11.850 Christmas morning and were out presence, and every word that 0:13:11.930 --> 0:13:15.810 he said just like, uugh, it felt like a kick 0:13:15.810 --> 0:13:16.290 in the gut. 0:13:17.130 --> 0:13:19.130 And how do you think it made your father feel. 0:13:19.770 --> 0:13:24.410 Very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, but he's not the 0:13:24.450 --> 0:13:26.770 type of person that would toss it back in my face. 0:13:26.930 --> 0:13:27.130 You know. 0:13:27.170 --> 0:13:30.450 That's kind of my uncle's style, but not necessarily his. 0:13:36.210 --> 0:13:39.570 Although Scott's dad didn't say anything, Scott understood that his 0:13:39.650 --> 0:13:42.170 dad felt the same way as Uncle Bill, that it 0:13:42.210 --> 0:13:44.770 was nice to have all those items returned, but the 0:13:44.770 --> 0:13:48.330 only one he really cared about was the luger and 0:13:48.370 --> 0:13:51.130 it was gone all because of Scott. 0:13:51.850 --> 0:13:54.410 I know that there's still trust issues there. I know 0:13:54.490 --> 0:13:58.730 that there's still pain there, and I've told him over 0:13:58.770 --> 0:14:00.250 the years that I'm going to do what I can 0:14:00.330 --> 0:14:02.810 to try and get it back, And I know by 0:14:02.850 --> 0:14:05.130 the glean in his eye that that would matter quite 0:14:05.170 --> 0:14:07.090 a bit, and that if I am able to track 0:14:07.130 --> 0:14:10.290 this down, it would be seismic. 0:14:11.810 --> 0:14:14.690 No matter what Scott accomplishes in life or how good 0:14:14.730 --> 0:14:18.010 he feels, there's always that nagging voice that cries out, 0:14:18.530 --> 0:14:21.290 what about the luger? Were you able to get that back? 0:14:22.250 --> 0:14:24.530 Even when Scott is relaxing in front of the TV, 0:14:24.970 --> 0:14:27.610 if anything about World War two comes on, he has 0:14:27.650 --> 0:14:30.770 to change the channel. And so Scott's come to me. 0:14:31.570 --> 0:14:34.450 He wants to find his grandfather's luger and has no 0:14:34.570 --> 0:14:38.690 idea where to begin. My first thought is why me? 0:14:39.570 --> 0:14:43.810 Why not the guys from Firearms Chat podcast, the Reloading Podcast, 0:14:44.010 --> 0:14:51.010 Wasted Ammo podcast, Socialist Rifle Association Podcast, Concealed Carry Podcast, 0:14:51.210 --> 0:14:55.250 New Shooter Canada or gun Girl Radio, the firearms show 0:14:55.290 --> 0:14:59.370 for the Second Amendment. Woman, I'm more the wistful type 0:14:59.410 --> 0:15:02.570 than the pistol type, more the pond type than the 0:15:02.610 --> 0:15:05.370 gun type. Do you think we'll have to go to 0:15:05.450 --> 0:15:06.090 a gun show? 0:15:06.690 --> 0:15:07.170 I don't know. 0:15:07.970 --> 0:15:10.850 I think it just kind of depends on where it 0:15:11.010 --> 0:15:11.570 ended up. 0:15:12.250 --> 0:15:14.490 Like the thing that's a little scary, and maybe I'm 0:15:14.610 --> 0:15:17.490 completely like out of line with thinking this, But is 0:15:17.530 --> 0:15:21.130 it possible like that these guns can filter back into 0:15:21.810 --> 0:15:23.610 like a kind of nether world of. 0:15:24.050 --> 0:15:26.570 Like Nazi sympathizer people. 0:15:26.410 --> 0:15:31.010 Exactly like, yeah, it's possible. Yeah, I don't abide by 0:15:31.090 --> 0:15:39.690 Nazi sympathizers, but I'm rapidly becoming a Skatzi sympathizer. As 0:15:39.690 --> 0:15:42.770 Anton Chekhov once said, if a gun shows up in 0:15:42.810 --> 0:15:45.610 the first act, it must be fired in the second 0:15:46.130 --> 0:15:49.610 and that's a lot of presh. But as Jonathan Goldstein 0:15:49.650 --> 0:15:52.250 once said, if a gun's to be fired at all, 0:15:52.650 --> 0:15:55.130 please don't let it hit me in the wallet, because 0:15:55.210 --> 0:15:57.530 that's where I keep the charge card I use for 0:15:57.650 --> 0:16:10.330 purchasing quality products like the ones coming your way. Not 0:16:10.490 --> 0:16:13.210 knowing where to start, I spend several hours on a 0:16:13.250 --> 0:16:16.970 gun collector's discussion board run by someone named Jan with 0:16:17.050 --> 0:16:21.090 an iron cross for an avatar. I introduce myself to 0:16:21.130 --> 0:16:23.850 my fellow gun nuts and announce that I'm looking for 0:16:23.930 --> 0:16:28.010 a gun. Right away, an Internet pop up pops up, 0:16:28.330 --> 0:16:31.050 telling me that my content has been blocked and to 0:16:31.210 --> 0:16:38.490 quote see administrator. Immediately after, the Gimblet Media HR department 0:16:38.570 --> 0:16:45.650 confiscates my computer. I unholster my weapon of choice, the telephone. 0:16:46.450 --> 0:16:49.690 I dial gun dealerships all over the country to seek advice. 0:16:50.130 --> 0:16:52.210 It's going to be almost impossible. 0:16:52.250 --> 0:16:54.690 There may not be any type of record because it. 0:16:54.650 --> 0:16:57.490 Could just be in some private collector's collection. It's gonna be. 0:16:57.530 --> 0:16:57.930 Hard for you. 0:16:58.130 --> 0:16:59.090 I'm gonna tell you straight up. 0:16:59.130 --> 0:17:01.090 Do you know when it was sold? 0:17:01.130 --> 0:17:03.170 Do you have any type of serial number? 0:17:04.129 --> 0:17:09.090 Of course, a serial number. Scott doesn't know the serial number, 0:17:09.690 --> 0:17:11.290 but he admits there's one person who. 0:17:11.250 --> 0:17:14.649 Might, Uncle Bill, my dad's older brother. 0:17:15.570 --> 0:17:20.489 Yeah, mister Christmas Morning himself. Are you in touch with 0:17:20.530 --> 0:17:21.050 your uncle? 0:17:22.209 --> 0:17:25.170 I am, I mean not a ton, but I am. 0:17:25.250 --> 0:17:29.010 Yeah, So maybe he would. He would be a place 0:17:29.050 --> 0:17:29.929 to start. 0:17:36.290 --> 0:17:44.369 Now, I'm uh, I mean, of course, there's a cloud 0:17:44.409 --> 0:17:48.010 of anxiety. My chest starts tightening when I think about 0:17:48.010 --> 0:17:48.810 actually doing it. 0:17:49.689 --> 0:17:53.209 Shortness of breath would come next, then burning in the 0:17:53.290 --> 0:17:57.129 chestel region. It was sounding to this reporter like the 0:17:57.129 --> 0:17:59.369 healing process had already begun. 0:18:00.010 --> 0:18:02.369 But maybe we could both do it. Yeah, we could 0:18:02.369 --> 0:18:03.609 do a three person call. 0:18:04.369 --> 0:18:07.330 So with me on the line as his emotional defibrillator, 0:18:07.730 --> 0:18:09.409 Scott dials up Uncle Bill. 0:18:15.810 --> 0:18:17.090 Good after that this is Bill. 0:18:17.449 --> 0:18:21.530 Hello, Uncle Bill, how are you. 0:18:22.129 --> 0:18:24.250 I'm good, mister Goldstein. 0:18:26.129 --> 0:18:31.210 Yeah. Hi. After Scott and I jockey over who will 0:18:31.290 --> 0:18:34.970 hide behind who's petty coats? Scott boldly peers out from 0:18:34.970 --> 0:18:38.409 behind my petty coats and asks Uncle Bill about the 0:18:38.449 --> 0:18:39.209 serial number. 0:18:39.730 --> 0:18:41.929 I believe it had a fairly low serial number, but 0:18:42.050 --> 0:18:44.929 unfortunately we never took a photo of the writing on 0:18:44.970 --> 0:18:45.650 the inside of. 0:18:45.609 --> 0:18:50.009 The holster, so you don't have the serial number. I 0:18:50.050 --> 0:18:53.409 do not. But the moment we bring up the gun, 0:18:53.889 --> 0:18:56.169 it's Christmas Morning all over again. 0:18:57.609 --> 0:19:01.729 It's a piece of history of his history that was 0:19:01.810 --> 0:19:04.330 part of what formed him to be the man that 0:19:04.409 --> 0:19:07.889 I knew. And that's about all we have from him 0:19:07.889 --> 0:19:10.729 from that era, and now we don't have that. 0:19:18.369 --> 0:19:21.129 When Uncle Bill speaks to the gun, it's as though Scott, 0:19:21.330 --> 0:19:25.490 the person responsible for its disappearance, isn't there, even when 0:19:25.490 --> 0:19:27.050 he pipes up to defend himself. 0:19:28.369 --> 0:19:32.050 The gun disappeared to help beat his habit, and I 0:19:32.129 --> 0:19:35.090 was really pissed at him. 0:19:35.290 --> 0:19:35.490 Yeah. 0:19:35.490 --> 0:19:38.290 I paid off every cent with his dad either. 0:19:39.129 --> 0:19:39.289 You know. 0:19:39.330 --> 0:19:41.050 It wasn't like I was going to go and beat 0:19:41.129 --> 0:19:43.929 him up or anything, but I was pissed that he 0:19:44.010 --> 0:19:45.809 felt the need to quote keep it safe, and then 0:19:45.850 --> 0:19:48.330 he didn't keep it safe. 0:19:48.129 --> 0:19:50.969 Do you still feel like you fault your brother for that? 0:19:53.409 --> 0:19:53.889 Somewhat? 0:19:59.369 --> 0:19:59.609 Now? 0:19:59.649 --> 0:20:03.209 The reality of World War two events is that they 0:20:03.250 --> 0:20:07.249 didn't really like to talk about the war. We didn't 0:20:07.290 --> 0:20:12.129 have PTSD as a doosis. The damage was usually doubtless 0:20:12.250 --> 0:20:15.689 with alcohol, and he a lawful lot of them drank 0:20:15.689 --> 0:20:17.810 too much, and that's how they self medicated. 0:20:20.010 --> 0:20:23.729 After the war, Scott's grandfather became an alcoholic. He spent 0:20:23.770 --> 0:20:25.769 his days in an easy chair with a glass in 0:20:25.810 --> 0:20:28.090 his hand, and in the evenings he kept a bottle 0:20:28.129 --> 0:20:30.689 of whiskey on the nightstand to make sure he didn't 0:20:30.689 --> 0:20:34.409 wake up in a withdrawal. Like the Luger, it seems 0:20:34.409 --> 0:20:37.609 addiction has also been a part of Scott's family for decades. 0:20:42.570 --> 0:20:45.249 Before getting off the phone, Uncle Bill does offer a 0:20:45.290 --> 0:20:48.489 couple helpful bits of information. He tells us that the 0:20:48.570 --> 0:20:51.369 Luger was a mouser and that returning World War II 0:20:51.490 --> 0:20:56.049 soldiers were often issued something called bring back papers, documents 0:20:56.090 --> 0:20:59.449 detailing any items they took home. If we could find 0:20:59.449 --> 0:21:02.649 those papers, Bill says, there's a chance the gun's serial 0:21:02.730 --> 0:21:06.009 number might be there. He also says that if anyone 0:21:06.050 --> 0:21:09.929 has the bringback papers, it'd be Scott's older sister, Mary, 0:21:10.449 --> 0:21:14.410 the family record keeper and also one of Scott's biggest supporters. 0:21:15.010 --> 0:21:17.730 She's a good person and an honest one. 0:21:17.970 --> 0:21:20.250 When Scott was in jail, Mary was the one who 0:21:20.330 --> 0:21:23.609 visited most, gave him money for the commissary, and helped 0:21:23.689 --> 0:21:26.530 him with his court case. When I explained the length 0:21:26.570 --> 0:21:29.490 Scott's going through to get their dad's gun back, Mary 0:21:29.530 --> 0:21:32.810 becomes emotional. The whole thing reminds her of a story 0:21:32.850 --> 0:21:36.169 from when they were kids. Mary, Scott, and their dad 0:21:36.290 --> 0:21:37.250 had gone out shopping. 0:21:37.970 --> 0:21:41.169 He accidentally still a bookmark from the store, just because 0:21:41.169 --> 0:21:42.090 he thought we'd paid for it. 0:21:42.010 --> 0:21:44.050 And we hadn't, and he cried all the way home 0:21:44.090 --> 0:21:45.609 and made us go all the way back to the 0:21:45.649 --> 0:21:47.689 store almost an hour away, to return it. 0:21:49.090 --> 0:21:51.570 Mary still sees her little brother as the same well 0:21:51.609 --> 0:21:54.969 meaning kid who's trying to make things right. She's not 0:21:55.010 --> 0:21:57.570 sure she has the bringback papers, but wants to help, 0:21:58.010 --> 0:22:01.009 so over the weekend she digs through their grandfather's old stuff. 0:22:01.530 --> 0:22:05.609 She finds wartime postcards, letters to their grandmother, photos of 0:22:05.649 --> 0:22:09.250 their grandfather and his army buddies huddled in fox holes. 0:22:09.530 --> 0:22:13.690 And then she found the actual document the bringback papers. 0:22:14.129 --> 0:22:16.050 Holy cow, Okay, so what and. 0:22:16.570 --> 0:22:19.170 By now it's pretty crazy? 0:22:19.730 --> 0:22:23.169