How do I respond to this

[Cloudy Days]

My husband seems to think he heard our neighbors kid threaten our dogs. A little back ground a kid that we have seen shoot BB guns towards the direction of our house. I told them If I saw it again I would call the cops on them because it is illegal to have in town. They weren't shooting at us purposefully to make us angry, they were just stupid kids that got a new bb gun and wanted to shoot it in their back yard. This has been over a year ago or more and we haven't seen the bb gun for a long time. My husband is more stressed out than usual, this weekend was honestly a nightmare, he wanted to fight with me this weekend and he made sure it happened. But one of the things that started it was that he went outside and he thinks he heard this kid say "you better get your dogs, I'm going to shoot them again" I wasn't out there to know if this was actually said. I just know that every time I go outside I can hear these people talking but they never even acknowledge that I am there. Never, not even once said anything to me or him when I have been outside. So how is it that every time he goes outside by himself somehow these people are saying things to him and talking hit to him? I think he hears what he wants to hear. Another thing is that we no longer allow our dogs to be outside without us. So if he was shooting this gun at our dogs, then we would have seen it. So it's not something that could even happen because we watch them at all times outside.

How do I respond to something I think isn't true. I feel bad for thinking he is making it up but I really think he is making it up. No, I really think he believes it happened, and those kids probably were talking just not to him.  When he came in and told me what this kid had supposedly said I just froze. I didn't say anything and I know that was wrong, me saying nothing is like ignoring him and it just fuels the fire. So how do I make him feel heard and not accept his problem as my own problem? If this actually did happen then I would make it my problem. How do I respond to something like this?

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[elemental]

I would have expressed concern about both dogs and children, validated his anxiety over something being done to loved pets,  and said, "Let's keep an eye on things, but we have to be sure something has happened before we take steps, because some people are just mean and talk bullcrap."

Your point is to validate his feelings, and offer support.

And honestly, my younger brother got a bb gun when he was little. We lived on a ranch at that point, and he did shoot the horses in the butt a few times from a distance. I saw him shoot MY horse in the butt once. To a horse, it's like a fly bite, but I didn't like it. Soon after, my bro became more interested in shooting targets and birds ( which he never hit with that gun).

[Cloudy Days]

I knew the fear in him was real, I just didn't think this kid said anything; If he had said he seen the kid with a gun shooting it in any direction,or not even shooting it and I would have called the cops that second. But the threat was a bit over the top for it to be real. 

Thank you though, That would have been a much better response than the one I had which was a non response. I think I am starting to freeze when things like this happen. I don't want to say the wrong thing so I end up saying nothing while thinking about what to say and that upsets him more.

[Cloudy Days]

Oh, wow, That sounds like a serious threat, that is really upsetting that he would say something like that especially about our dogs. Lets keep an eye on things, but we have to be sure something has happened before we take any steps, some people are just mean and talk a lot of crap.

I think that sounds good, just very hard to think of in the moment