| Johnny Get Your Gun | |
| Season 3, Episode 7 | |
| Air date | November 9, 1998 |
| Written by | Brenda Hampton |
| Directed by | Kevin Inch |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous And the Home of the Brave |
next No Sex, Some Drugs and a Little Rock 'N Roll |
Summary
Deena's ex-boyfriend, Johnny threatens Simon with a gun and Eric finds himself in a life-or-death situation in order to protect his son, and ends up shot. Ruthie wants a violent video game called "Baboom" which Annie and Eric find inappropriate for her to have. After watching "Gone With the Wind," Lucy sees slapping as a romantic gesture and wants to use it on her boyfriend. When Mary goes on a date with Shana's younger brother, George, she discovers that he's abusive.
Trivia
- The Camdens' telephone number is 555-0119.
- Matt gets a black eye in this episode when Mary accidentally whacks him with a basketball. The "stage makeup" required for this changes at a lot of random moments throughout the episode. In particular, look closely in the scene where Matt picks Ruthie up from school, catches her with the video game, and makes her give it to him. His eye looks pretty bad at that time. Then, in a scene shortly after that, when Lucy gets in the car, Matt's eye looks barely bruised at all.
- During "7th Heaven"'s 3rd season, David Gallagher won the award for "Best Actor in a Drama Series" at the 1998 Hollywood Reporter "Youngstar Awards."
- David Gallagher and Jake Richardson co-starred together in the direct-to-video movie of the update of Richie Rich's life called, "Richie Rich's Christmas Wish."
- This episode marks the highest rated program in WB history, only to be broken three months later, by "The Tribes that Bind", and "In Praise of a Woman."
- Maureen Flannigan makes her first appearance in the show as Matt's girlfriend, Shana and would be added to the show's credits for the fourth season.
Quotes
- Mary [to George]: I'm not kidding, you're hurting me, let go!
- George: Only if you say please.
- Mary: (elbows George and knocks him to the ground) I don't have to say please! I don't know what kind of girls you're used to going out with, but I don't find physical violence appropriate for a date!
- George: And yet, you're hurting my hand.
- Mary: (lets go of his hand) You have a problem. Deal with it.
- Simon: Excuse me.
- Johnny: Oh, hey, little buddy. Am I in your way?
- Simon: It's not buddy. It's Simon Camden. You're Johnny, I presume?
- Johnny: So you've heard of me. That's good. Have you also heard that this is my girlfriend Deena?
- Simon: I believe that's was your girlfriend. Deena was your girlfriend. She's my girlfriend now.
- Johnny: Yeah, we'll see about that, buddy.
- Johnny [to Simon]: Listen, Mighty Mouse, stay out of this, or I'm going to take you out of it!
- Simon: Take me out of it?
- Johnny: (makes a gun with his fingers) Get it?
- Simon: ...You're gonna shoot me?
- Johnny: Yeah, maybe. All of a sudden you'll turn around and see a .38 Special pointed right at you. (chuckles) Yeah, I just might do that. You'll have to look over your shoulder everywhere you go.
- Eric [to Simon]: Are you in some kind of trouble?
- Simon: I'm not sure about that either. See, the thing is, is that he's probably trying to scare me. But Deena's boyfriend said that he was going to shoot me.
- Vice Principal Blackstone [to Eric]: I have to follow procedure. I have to call in the parents, have a meeting with them, send the kid to a counselor. They have to recommend that he see a therapist or I have to risk losing my 10 year retirement, and that may not sound much, but I have a family too.
- Eric: Okay, well what about tomorrow? What happens if he comes to school with a gun tomorrow!?
- Vice Principal Blackstone: I agree that Simon and Deena should stay home from school until I get some answers.
- Eric: Well, thanks for your help.
- Eric: (to Johnny when he has a gun) Easy…now son.
- Lucy: (after Eric is shot) I just wish somebody would have told me what was going on.
- Simon: Mom and Dad were hoping they wouldn't have to scare the rest of the family. Besides, what would you have done anyway?
- Ruthie: Well, for one thing, I wouldn't have been running around yelling "Ba-Boom!"
- Annie: (about Ruthie playing a video game where people step on landmines) Ruthie, did you know that there are real people who step on real land mines? They lose arms and legs...and some even die.
- Ruthie: Yeah, but this isn't real life. It's just a game. A video game.
- Eric: (to Ruthie) Let me try to explain to you why your mom and I are so upset by this whole "Ba-Boom!" thing.
- Ruthie: After that, then can I get the video game?
- Eric: Listen...when you first see someone shot or blown up on TV, it has to be at least a little scary. But then if you keep watching it day after day, week after week, year after year, it starts to grow less scary, less a big deal, and even gets to seem like...nothing. But it is something. It's the biggest something. It's someone taking someone else's life.
- Simon: This is all my fault. I shouldn't have said anything.
- Lucy: It's not your fault. It's not your fault at all. If you hadn't said anything, something worse could have happened. He could have shown up at school with that gun! Johnny's a kid with a bad temper. A bad temper and a gun. That's a really bad combination.
- Eric: It hurt. It really hurt. It was absolutely terrifying.
- Dr. Peterson: Would you put that on a billboard? People don't seem to realize.
- Sergeant Michaels: (to Eric) I talk to the folks in juvenile. Johnny has a record. And just as you thought the family has a gun, a registered .38 special.
- Shana [to Matt]: I told you I would tell you about my family when I think you can handle it.
- Matt: What makes you think I can't handle it?
- Shana: Your little sister can beat you up!
- Sergeant Michaels [to Mr. Morton]: If we just look at this objectively, John, the number of times your son has been in trouble has been increasing rapidly over the past couple of years, and the crimes have been getting more serious.
- Mr. Morton: He and a couple of kids broke a couple of mirrors in a few new houses at a construction site. The doors were unlocked. It was tempting. You know how kids are.
- Sergeant Michaels: I know how kids in trouble are. He ignored the warning and broke into the elementary school and damaged the heating system.
- Mr. Morton: Oh, please. It was nothing more than a stink bomb. And besides, you don't know if it was Johnny or one of his friends.
- Sergeant Michaels: You're right. But when the officer came to your house to talk to him, I understand he threw a brick at his car?
- Mr. Morton: He just happened to toss it out of the yard when the guy drove by. It was bad timing. An accident.
- Sergeant Michaels: And what about your dog? The neighbors report that Johnny was abusing the family dog.
- Mr. Morton: He tied it to the bike so it would run alongside! That's abuse?
- Sergeant Michaels: The county took the dog, did they not?
- Mr. Morton: This is ridiculous! Are we just gonna sit here and recall every little thing my son's ever done?
- Vice Principal Blackstone: Mr. Morton, I had your son's locker opened this morning.
- Mr. Morton: What?!
- Vice Principal Blackstone: I had reason to believe that he might have a weapon.
- Mr. Morton: And did he? No!
- Vice Principal Blackstone: But his locker looks like... an altar to violence. There are pictures of people torturing animals, a stack of gun ads, CDs of an extremely sexual and violent nature, comics books along the same themes. My guess is his room looks the same way.
- Mr. Morton: So what if it does? He's a teenage boy!
- Eric: He's a teenage boy who pointed his finger at my son's head and mentioned the exact gun he would use on him! (to Vice Principal Blackstone) I'm sorry, you asked me to let you handle this, (to Mr. Morton) and I can't help but notice that he threatened my son with the exact same gun that you own!
- Mr. Morton: I have a license for that gun!
- Eric: I don't care if you have a license for that gun. Licensed or unlicensed, your son has access to it, and you seem to be in complete denial at any possibility that something could go terribly wrong here!
- Mr. Morton: I know my son, okay? My son would never shoot anyone!
- Sergeant Michaels: At the very least, until this situation is resolved, you might want to take the gun out of your house.
- Mr. Morton: The gun is for our protection!
- Sergeant Michaels: Did you know that people who keep a gun at home for self-protection are 43 times more likely to kill themselves, a family member or an acquaintance than to be killed by an armed intruder?
- Mr. Morton: Do you know that guns don't kill people?! People kill people!
- Eric [yells]: PEOPLE WITH GUNS KILL PEOPLE!
- Vice Principal Blackstone: Gentlemen...
- Eric: No! Is it too much to ask for this man to admit that his son has a problem and take some action?
- Mr. Morton: Oh, I'm gonna take action, all right! I'm not gonna be forced to give up my right to bear arms! And I'm not gonna have my back pushed up against the wall by some lame assistant principal and a minister who's got friends in the police department! What I am gonna do is call the school board and the Chief of Police, because this is harassment! And furthermore, I'm gonna take my son out of this school! I'm gonna put him in a private school where he won't be treated like a common criminal! The public school system has failed my son and failed my family! And if this is what I get for my tax dollars, than forget it!
- Judge R.M. Kristy: Johnny, I've gone over your record very carefully, as well as the psychological evaluation that was provided to me, and I had to consider that this was not your first offense, that you did admit to stalking the Reverend, with an intent to kill him, and to date, you have shown no remorse. Now, this is not to say that I have no hope of your ever changing, because I do. We have successfully rehabilitated young men and women just like yourself, and I intend to watch your case very closely. But today, Johnny, based on the information gathered, as well as my conversations with you and your parents, I feel I have no choice but to relinquish you to the State Youth Authority, where you will remain under their care until you are 25 years old, which is the maximum penalty I am allowed to assign a 12-year-old.