Julius’s Tear-Gas Gun

Julius’s Tear-Gas Gun is the silver-colored blank-firing pistol Julius brings along when he and his friends set out to break into their school. Intended by him as protection, it instead becomes an immediate source of danger and conflict: Sanchez tries to remove it, Lukas intervenes, and Julius keeps it as the boys proceed. The gun is never shown being fired, but its presence changes the character of the plan, making the possibility of discovery feel more consequential and the group’s disagreements more volatile.

Identity and Introduction

The object appears amid preparations for a nighttime burglary. Julius first produces a lockpick from a box beside his bed, boasting that it can get him through doors, cars, and cellars. Sanchez dismisses the tool and throws down a large bundle of keys, which Julius examines with evident awe before putting the lockpick away. The exchange establishes that access to the school may depend on keys rather than Julius’s improvisational tool. The gun, revealed later, is different: it does not help them enter or carry away the computers, and its presence adds a new risk rather than solving a practical obstacle.

At the school gate, as Sanchez is about to unlock it, Julius lifts his sweater and points to his waistband. He draws out the silver-colored pistol and displays it proudly, then tucks it back into his trousers. Lukas had believed Julius was joking when he previously talked about having such a weapon; seeing it in his hands makes the threat concrete. The group is standing outside the school in the middle of Saturday night, in a quiet residential area where their presence already seems conspicuous. The gun intensifies the sense that this is no longer merely trespassing and theft.

Dispute at the Gate

Sanchez reacts with disbelief and tells Julius to hand the pistol over. Julius refuses, pulls his sweater back over it, and treats the weapon as necessary for their safety. Sanchez returns to him and demands it again, but Julius folds his arms and does not comply. Their disagreement briefly overtakes the burglary itself: the boys have not yet entered the building, and the group’s attention is fixed on who will control the gun.

Sanchez then snatches the pistol from Julius’s waistband and steps back, holding it behind him while trying to keep Julius at a distance. Julius immediately charges, shoves Sanchez’s arm aside, and tries to take the weapon back. The object has become the center of a physical struggle between the two friends, with control of it changing hands in an instant. Rather than functioning as a deterrent, it provokes the very confrontation that could draw attention to them before the break-in begins.

Lukas attempts to stop the argument. He tells Sanchez to return the gun, reasoning that keeping it will not help them, and presses him again when he hesitates. Sanchez looks between Lukas and Julius, takes a deep breath, and finally gives the pistol back. Julius snatches it from him and puts it away. The immediate struggle ends, but not through agreement: Julius still believes he is right to carry it, while Sanchez has yielded after Lukas’s appeal. The episode shows the group’s decisions being shaped as much by their unstable loyalties and impatience as by the burglary plan.

Carried into the Break-In

After the dispute, the boys set off toward the school. They stop at a side entrance near the seventh-year classrooms. Lukas is frightened by the possibility of a night watchman, cleaners, motion sensors, or cameras; he also realizes that the entrance will take them past the caretaker’s room and cleaning-supply rooms. Sanchez unlocks the door before Lukas can raise his concern. In this tense approach, the pistol remains part of the situation because Julius has kept it, but the narrative does not show him drawing or using it again.

Inside, the boys search for the new computers. After an initial, frustrated failure to find them, Sanchez spots unopened cartons of computers and monitors on shelves. Lukas climbs onto a small step stool and passes the computers down to Sanchez and Julius. The gun does not help them locate the cartons, remove the equipment, or transport it; the burglary advances through the boys’ handling of the boxes and their improvised teamwork. Its importance lies instead in what has accompanied them through the threshold: an object that makes an already criminal undertaking feel more dangerous without changing the practical work of stealing.

Narrative Significance and Limits

Lukas fears that being caught with the pistol would make the consequences of the burglary much worse, imagining charges connected with an armed break-in, trespass, and theft, and the possibility of juvenile detention. That fear contrasts with Julius’s confident claim that the weapon is for safety. Sanchez’s attempt to take it away recognizes the danger, but his eventual surrender leaves Julius in possession of it. Their competing responses reveal how poorly coordinated the group is at the moment when caution matters most.

The subsequent attempt to sell the stolen computers also exposes the plan to scrutiny: a shopkeeper notices the implausibility of three students arriving with brand-new computers shortly after computers have been stolen from a school. The pistol is not identified as part of that encounter, and the evidence does not establish that it is used, fired, or responsible for the sale failing. Its role remains specific but telling. It is displayed, fought over, returned, and carried into the burglary; it is never demonstrated as an effective means of protection. The contrast between Julius’s assurance and Lukas’s alarm makes the gun a visible measure of the boys’ misjudgment: what one treats as security, another sees as a reason the consequences could become far more severe.