The pool in the backyard of Louis Minardi's home may be distinctively Florida: the custom-built pool is shaped like a six-shot revolver, in a state made famous, sometimes infamous, by politics and Gun culture.

“All the neighbors who have bought houses around here have come,” said Minardi, who lives near Tampa."Everyone says: Is this guy crazy?" Pool Liners Brands

The story behind the revolver-shaped pool dates back some 40 years to an idea proposed by Minardi's high school friend Albert Jones III, a contractor who said he was bored with building more traditionally shaped pools. .

Minardi was reluctant at first, but the idea resonated with him, given his lifelong relationship with guns.Minardi, now 67, said he grew up hunting with friends and remembers receiving his first firearm, a double-barreled shotgun, when he was in high school but already aware of gun safety. .

“I was the shortest, smallest guy, and I bought a fucking 12-gauge,” Minardi said.

“Times were different then,” he said.“You are 12 years old and your mother leaves you a box of cartridges and a shotgun.But they trust it.They knew we knew what we were doing."

Minardi said he started a gunsmithing business with his brother after attending classes in 1976.

In the 1980s, Minardi and his wife, Raye, decided they wanted a pool.They lived in a lake that contained snakes and alligators, and Raye Minardi had to watch her children swim off the dock with a shotgun, she said.

The family wanted a pool that was at least 40 feet long in which to swim.After Louis Minardi contacted Jones, owner of AH Jones Pools Inc., the idea for the 55-foot gun pool was born.

"You're going to think I'm crazy," Jones said, according to Louis Minardi.Knowing Minardi's background as a gunsmith, Jones was presented with plans inspired by a Ruger Blackhawk, a 1950s Western-style revolver characterized by its long barrel and known for its durability and accuracy.

“You swim your lap for the barrel,” Louis Minardi said Jones told him.“It gets deeper at that end.You can turn around and then you can swim back.”

Jones begged him to let him build the revolver pool, Louis Minardi said.He said he was tired of building kidney-shaped pools, a Florida backyard staple.Minardi agreed, as long as he stayed within the budget of his project.

Jones, who died in 2010, color-coordinated the perimeter pool tiles to accurately reflect the revolver's brown handle and silver barrel.She detailed mosaics on the bottom of the pool to distinguish the individual components of the weapon, such as the trigger and ammunition chamber.And he installed a jacuzzi in the hammer.

The pool has been resurfaced over the years, but its shape remains.

Louis Minardi said the pool is popular with family and friends, who have used it to teach their children to swim.

Louis Minardi stopped selling guns in the late 1980s, due to rising insurance rates for gun warranties.He became more involved with the family-owned taxi service and has been running that business ever since.

Still, gun education is still important to him.He said that he has taken his children and grandchildren hunting since they were very young.He said that he would not allow them to use a weapon unless they were closely supervised and had the proper training.

Gun education is at the center of Louis Minardi's views on gun regulation.He said that people should be allowed to own guns and carry guns in public.Florida lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would eliminate the requirements for concealed carry permits, which currently include mandatory classroom training and proficiency testing at a shooting range.He also said that having a weapon doesn't matter if someone doesn't know how to use it correctly.

"If you're qualified, you're mentally capable of having one and protecting yourself, I think you should have one if you want it, whether you keep it at home or carry it with you," Louis Minardi said."But it's like everything, it's educating, it's educating people about weapons, how they work."

“Today, most people don't know anything about them,” he said.

Reflecting on his pool, he was unaware that people on social media had noticed the unusual shape in satellite imagery.And he said that in all his years since he was a gunsmith with a pool in the shape of a revolver, he never considered another curious coincidence: his family lives on Gunn Highway.

Replacement Pool Liners "I don't know. I never thought about Gunn Highway," Louis Minardi said. "It's just the road we live on."