Thanks for the correction. I thought he was 16. That makes it even worse. He wasn't legally allowed to have that gun on him.
Kids are dumb, this one maybe was an armed robber too.
Back in the early ‘70s you could buy starter pistols, tear gas guns and pot metal replica guns for about $30 bucks from ads in the back of various magazines.
They had snub nose revolvers, SAA cowboy guns, Luger’s and the one I bought with my dish washer cash, a 1911 replica.
I was 14 and thought it was just about the coolest thing ever, it disassembled like the real thing, had a magazine and chambered solid brass dummy rounds, the slide worked, etc.
It had a partial plug, a ridge inside the barrel and lacked the firing pin assy but it did have an extractor, recoil rod, barrel bushing etc.
The co-owner of the diner, Tony, was an Italian guy from NYC nearly beat my a** when I flashed it at him.
Once his partner Walter, a ringer for Hal Linden of Barney Miller calmed him down and he let go of me they gave me a serious talk about being stupid and getting killed.
It must have worked, I’m 65 now but I marvel at what a dumb kid I could he.