Revolver-Shaped Swimming Pool Creating Controversy Online

A Florida couple’s unique swimming pool has been causing a stir all over the internet. The Minardi’s, Louis and Raye Ellen, built a swimming pool in their backyard that was designed to look like a six-shooter revolver. This eye-catching and unconventional pool has gone viral on social media, with people either loving or hating the design.

Florida Homeowners Gun Shaped Pool Turning Heads on Social Media

Louis Minardi, who grew up hunting with friends, remembers receiving his first firearm, a double-barrel shotgun, when he was only in middle school. He went on to open a gunsmith business with his brother after attending classes in 1976. In the 1980s, when he and his wife decided they wanted a lap pool, they called up their friend Albert Jones III, who owned A.H. Jones Pool Company. It was during this conversation that the idea for a gun-shaped pool was born.

Homeowner Wanted A Six-Shooter Shaped Pool For Swimming Laps

Jones, who was bored of building more traditionally shaped pools, showed up with plans modeled after a Ruger Blackhawk, a 1950s-era, Western-style revolver characterized by its long barrel and known for its durability and accuracy. The final result was a 55-foot long pool shaped like a six-shooter revolver, complete with a concrete replica of a bullet.

“You swim your lap down the barrel,” Minardi said Jones told him. “It gets deeper on that end. You can flip over from it, and then you can swim back.”

Jones begged him, Louis Minardi said, to let him construct the gun pool. He complained that he was sick of making the standard kidney-shaped pools found in so many Florida backyards. Minardi consented, on the condition that he adhere to the financial constraints of his project.

Minardi, who lives in the Tampa area, has owned the revolver-shaped pool for roughly 40 years. “Neighbors that have bought houses around here have all come by,”they’re all, ‘Is this guy a whack job?’,” said Minardi.

Jones, who died in 2010, color-coordinated the perimeter pool tiles to accurately reflect the revolver’s brown handle and silver body. He detailed tiles on the bottom of the pool to distinguish the gun’s individual components, like the trigger and ammunition chamber. And he installed a jacuzzi in the hammer.

Revolver Pool Continues To Stir Controversy 40 Years Later

When Minardi built the pool four decades ago, he created the ultimate conversation starter in his backyard. While the pool has been resurfaced over the years, the shape remains the same. Louis Minardi said the pool is popular among family and friends, who have used it to teach their children to swim.

The revolver-shaped pool, is stirring controversy all over the web due to the ongoing debates surrounding gun culture, gun ownership, and gun violence in the United States. The pool’s unique design, combined with the state’s reputation for guns, has garnered attention and sparked discussion among those who view the pool as a reflection of the state’s gun culture. Some may see the pool as a celebration of gun ownership, while others may view it as insensitive or inappropriate, given the prevalence of gun violence in the country. Additionally, the current political climate in the United States has seen an increase in calls for gun control and regulation, making the pool’s design a polarizing topic of conversation.

The Minardi’s, however, defend their decision, stating that the pool is simply an expression of their love for firearms and gun culture. They believe that the pool is a harmless and fun addition to their backyard, and they have no intention of changing it anytime soon.

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Interested in more swimming pools with interesting shapes? Pool Magazine has you covered. Check out this Texas-Shaped Pool at the Marriott in Houston, TX.

Featured Photo Credit: YouTube