ODESSA, FLORIDA — The swimming pool in Louis Minardi’s backyard near Tampa, Florida is quite a sight.
Shaped like a six-shooter revolver, the custom-built pool is a unique addition to the state’s gun culture.
Minardi’s high school friend, Albert Jones III, a contractor, proposed the idea around 40 years ago when he grew tired of building conventional pools, according to Fox 13.
Despite initial reluctance, Minardi was convinced that the idea aligned with his lifelong interest in guns.
Minardi, now 67, has been hunting with friends since childhood and received his first firearm, a double-barrel shotgun, in middle school.
Despite the controversial nature of guns, he grew up with a mindset in which gun safety was heavily emphasized.
“You’re 12, and your mother drops you off a box of shells and a shotgun. But they trust it. They knew we knew what we were doing,” Minardi recalled according to Fox 13.
After attending classes in 1976, he went on to open a gunsmithing business with his brother.
Despite its novelty, Minardi’s pool has raised eyebrows in the neighborhood.
“Neighbors that have bought houses around here have all come by,” he said. “They’re all, ‘Is this guy a whack job?’”
