Under the Gun: Josh Stafford

For this edition of Under the Gun, we caught up with skater Josh Stafford to have him explain the words tattooed on his side that are dedicated to an old friend.

Shortly after I turned 18 I was in Europe and I got a call from my mom saying that my best friend from elementary school had committed suicide. To me it was so sad because I had just graduated from high school, and we had been so bad at keeping in touch that I hardly saw him after the fifth grade.

He had been my best friend from preschool through fourth grade. I saw him maybe once throughout the next seven years and then my mom called to break the news.

I remember I was in Switzerland traveling around in between contests with a couple of my friends. Even if I had left right then, I would have missed his funeral. So I got this tattoo right when I got home. I didn’t even need to think about it. I knew I wanted to get it and I would never regret it.

Honestly I didn’t know too much about how he was over the past seven years or so. I got it to remind me to keep the people close to you who you care about because you never know what could happen. They could be gone any day.