I remember when I was a kid, I had a friend named Johnny.

Johnny loved firecrackers. The only problem was his dad didn't love him loving firecrackers. So he told Johnny, no more firecrackers. But Johnny kept buying firecrackers and he hid them, everywhere: in his attic; under the family doghouse. One time, even in "my" garage!

Johnny had those firecrackers all over the place. What amazed me is that me and all the kids in the neighborhood "knew" Johnny was hiding firecrackers. But not his dad. Surely, I thought, his pop couldn't be so stupid.

But Johnny kept at it. Until one 4th of July, he went to town, blowing them all off at a nearby park. Unfortunately, in the process, he blew the finger off of a friend who was playing with them too. Everyone was shocked, including the parents of the kid who just lost his finger. And they wanted to know why Johnny's parents could let a kid play with stuff like this?

Johnny's dad was shocked and angry. And he said, "I had no idea. I thought he had stopped with the firecrackers."

Johnny's dad was embarrassed and now Johnny's dad was the target of a lawsuit.

And all because he trusted someone who said he didn't have firecrackers, when he did. And did nothing.

I know another guy like that, who says he doesn't have weapons, when he does and the whole world does nothing.

Ring a bell?

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