I swear to God this is true:
I was a “brat” also. Dad was stationed at Ft. Benning, GA at the time, and we lived in Columbus. My brother and I made some gun powder from a recipe we found in “Boys Life” or somewhere (8 and 10 years old kids could read then), and bent one end of a heavy pipe, which we mounted with bricks. We then tested our powder for a week or two until we got it right and loaded the pipe with a lot of the powder and some old, rusty ball bearings, nails, and other junk. We lit the fuse and blasted an 8 inch hole in the side of our free-standing garage.
Well, as luck would have it, there was a patrol car in almost the immediate area, and to be sure, the police therein received several calls on us. They pulled up in to the driveway, walked up, and asked us it we had heard an explosion. We mentioned that indeed we had. They asked us if we knew anything about it. We said “yes, we made a cannon and shot it”. They asked if they could see it, and we showed it to them. They said “Don’t you boys do that again, we got a lot of calls for the noise”. They took our cannon and left. Dad lit our asses up for the hole in the garage, but never asked how we did it! My, how times have changed.
Hahahahahaha...how times have changed indeed!
I can just see you guys saying “Yes, we made a cannon and shot it!”
Back then, the cop might well do just as you said. Today, you would be in some kind of child counseling, or worse!