How Times Have Changed! my 1st handgun

[Tmate]

When I was 14 years old, back in 1953, I saved up and bought a Harrington & Richardson Model 922 Bantam in .22 caliber. It was identical to the ones pictured below. My father and I shot it at a small bullet trap in my basement most of the time.

One day I decided to take it school and give a talk on it in my 9th grade speech class. During the course of my speech, I pulled the bullet out of a .22 long rifle cartridge with a pair of pliers, and stuffed some Kleenex in the shell. I then loaded the gun and fired it in the classroom. The teacher looked a little startled, but didn't object. After the class, I put it in my locker for the rest of the day, and then took it home. Everyone took it in stride, my parents, the teacher, and my classmates. Never heard a word about it.

Today, kids get expelled if they chew their pop-tart into the shape of a pistol. What is the World coming to?

 

[pontiac428]

Did you mail order yours through Sears? That was back before Andy made Barney carry his only bullet in his shirt pocket. Even for me, in the early 80's I wore the paint off of my Daisy charging the spring a million times drilling cans on a 1/4-ac lot in a developed neighborhood without a bit of trouble from anyone. Nowadays, yeesh- I don't even know where to start. At least we're not in the UK. Seen any good movies or played any video games lately?

 

[Janderso]

The pendulum did swing.
Remember a thing called a rifle rack?? In a pick-up truck??

 

[Janderso]

Seen any good movies or played any video games lately?

Too bloody and violent plus all the unnecessary swearing.

 

[682bear]

The pendulum did swing.
Remember a thing called a rifle rack?? In a pick-up truck??

I actually saw one for sale at a yard sale recently... these days that would be a quick and easy way to get the window knocked out of your truck...

-Bear

 

[pontiac428]

Even in California in the early 1990s, it was policy at my high school that I could have a rifle or shotgun in the window rack of my pickup as long as it stayed in the parking lot. Sure, it was subject to smash-and-grab, but most people knew who drove what and who to avoid trouble with. Now, that same parking lot has probably been cordoned off as a homeless sanctuary and drug amnesty zone.

 

[benmychree]

My good friend Barry Cox told me that when he was in grade school in Southern Ca., in the 1950s kids were allowed to bring a rifle to school; it would be kept in a closet and brought out at recess for varmint or target shooting; yes things have changed ---- Nowadays, he collects and sells breech loading cannons and has a class 10 FFL.

 

[Larry$]

When I was in grade school, my Dad bought me a single shot 410. We went to a training class at the Isaack Walton League. Then I could trap shoot with the men. I went pheasant hunting with my uncles and rabbit hunting with another grade school kid that had a 22 riffle. It was common for grade school kids to have 22 rifles. I don't remember any one getting into trouble with them. Lot of fun killing cans and bottles down by the creek. Lots of stuff dumped there. 1952+-

 

[projectnut]

I grew up in a rural area of southern Wisconsin. Everyone owned rifles, shotguns, and hand guns. In the fall of the year tons of kids brought either their shotguns or rifles to school. Some went hunting before classes started and others after they ended for the day. It was fine to put your gun your locker. The only rule was it had to be unloaded and the ammunition had to be on the top shelf. Occasionally the principal would do a locker check to insure the rules were being followed. If they weren't the offender was no longer allowed to bring their gun to school. No one ever ever thought of them being used to harm or kill anyone.

 

[vocatexas]

When I was in high school in the early '80s my pick-up always had a rifle and shotgun in the gun rack and a cooler of beer in the bed. I would say that was true of nearly half the pick-ups in the school parking lot.