Pasco County couple commissions revolver-shaped swimming pool

Aerial view: Gun-shaped pool in Pasco County, Florida backyard

FOX 13 News

ODESSA, Fla. - The swimming pool in the backyard of Louis Minardi’s home may be distinctive to Florida: The custom-built pool is shaped like a six-shooter revolver, in a state made famous – sometimes infamous – by guns, gun politics and gun culture.

"Neighbors that have bought houses around here have all come by," said Minardi, who lives near Tampa. "They’re all, ‘Is this guy a whack job?’"

Gun-shaped pool built in Pasco County

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

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

Neighbors rescue woman after SUV ends up in pool

Decades after leaving the Coast Guard, a Lakeland man used his life-saving skills to safely pull a woman from a sinking car after police say she mistook the gas pedal for the brake and drove her car into a swimming pool Wednesday morning.

WATCH: Veteran rescues Lakeland woman from sinking car after it crashed into country club swimming pool

"I was the shortest, littlest guy growing up, and bought a damn 12-gauge," Minardi said.

Gun-shaped pool built in Pasco County

"The times were different then," he said. "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."