Are you old enough to remember when firearms were proudly displayed?

I am 79, and I do not remember ever seeing a displayed gun in the houses of friends or family. I think that tradition had more to do wit location. I grew up and lived in Metro Philadelphia until I joined the Corps in 1960. The region was urban/suburban and not even remotely an area for outdoorsmen, hunters, etc. so while I know some had guns, I never saw them displayed. My Uncle was an avid hunter, but he kept his three long guns in a closet. But I have always liked the look of well displayed guns. I think if there were more guns displayed in homes there would be less people afraid of them.

I posted earlier and I just today found an old Kodak picture from the bedroom my brother and I shared. My Dad's Winchester 77. My Rem 870. My Brothers 870 and Dad's Win 12. There is even my Johnson 710 reel and Berkley Cherrywood rod. This would have been 1979.

My brother made a 3-gun rack in high school shop class in the 1950s. At some point it got dropped and cracked, but still held 3-guns, two single shot 410s and one single shot .22, mounted on the wall above my bed. That was every gun we owned. When I was in high school, a few lucky farm kids had racks in their pick-ups, some with a highly coveted 30-30 lever gun. But, never was the truck broken into or the SWAT team called. Those really were great times of immeasurable freedom. When we occasionally had visitors at home we would proudly show off our meager collection. One of the favorite high school shop class projects when I was in high school in the early 1960s was a glass front gun cabinet. Good old days!!

Solomonson said:

My (highly academic) HS here in California continues to have great vocational training as well -- shop classes. Wood, weld/machine, automotive, ag, electronics, etc.

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We have it too, just incredibly regulated. It was just too much of a hassle to be worth it.

One of the five high schools that I attended (North Eugene High School, Eugene, Oregon) had the most extensive vocational program sets that I have ever seen. For example, when I attended our shop and drafting classes designed and built homes that were sold to support further projects.
Yes, some of the homes had built-in gun cabinets and racks... .

I kinda remember seeing back window rifle racks in pickups. That was early 2000s. At our home, we never had our guns out on display. Most were stowed away. I was always taught that if someone knows where the guns are, then they know to rob you.

Kinda paranoid? Maybe, but I rather be safe than sorry.

Yes i am old enough to remember ( 75 ) an you could buy one at most gas stations here in Michigan !!!

I’m 38 and grew up in Northern Virginia. My dad had guns displayed in our house growing up (he was born in ‘39). Weird to think now. You’d walk in and immediately see two muzzleloaders (kits he’d made). In his bed room he had a two gun wall hanger (usually shotguns). Both where usually loaded. I can still picture where the rest were, usually several hid and a few in the safe. Rule was “every gun is loaded”, if you see it assume it’s loaded. We did have a rack in the back of the truck for a while. He also drove with a beer and cigar in hand most times.

Northern Virginia now, you’d be hard pressed to find this and neighbors would likely call the cops on you.

Sorry I am 11 pages late to this thread.
I remember gun racks in the back window of pick up trucks (with guns) in my high school senior parking lot.
I drove a car and not a truck but would hunt before or after school and had either a 12 gauge shotgun, 30-30 Winchester, or a Winchester model 70 30-06 in the trunk of my car in the student parking lot.

Yes, I remember. I remember being proud of my country and the people of my country. Now?? Not so much.

In my experience, say, from the 1960's through the 1980's, guns were displayed, but it was usually a handful of long guns in a cabinet. Never handguns, and never really large collections. Now everything has disappeared from view entirely.

You bet. When Joe Warren showed up with that brace of pistols and was all waving em around n all we were all proud. I mean he was an MD but he was no pansy! Damn fine pistols too!

I'm in different people's houses all the time. It isn't common, but neither is it rare to find firearms on display, especially in wealthy homes.

I'm 68 yo, raised in rural Arkansas, clearly remember folks having hunting rifles and shotguns displayed on wall gun racks. Rarely saw any handguns in homes. After college in the 1970's I had a very nice double glass door gun cabinet in the bedroom. Seems like gun cabinets began being replaced with gun safes in the 1980s and 1990s. Mine was replaced with a 900 lb. Liberty in the mid 1990s.
Just to show how times have changed, in the late 1960s I took my Revelation 16ga. pump shotgun to my high school shop class. The weld had broke where the slide attached to the forearm insert. The shop teacher said he would reweld it for me if I brought it to class.

I'm 54 but as a child of the 70's and 80's who split my formative years between Wyoming and Wisconsin, I well remember going to friends houses and seeing the traditional deer, elk or waterfowl engraved glass doored cabinets with hunting rifles and shotguns in them. The "lock" was a single small key and was there just to keep kids out.

I'm an Arizonan. Grew up with guns. Respected them. In highschool late 70s early 80s had a Winchester 94 and a Marlin 60 in my gun rack of my pickup.
No one ever said a thing. I'd say 10-20 others did similar with their trucks.
Such a better time then.

Now a days, if you hang one up it is a good idea to booby trap it with the blue paint dye or you could
rig it to shoot backwards.
I used to have some hanging until a friend of mine had carpet put down then 2 days later one of
the guys returned while they were gone to church and stole his Colt Python.

I was reminded earlier today of a specific gun I bought several years ago, from a classified ad in the local newspaper. Then I remembered I'd bought a handful of guns that way.
That reminded me of this thread.

I feel like this changed in the mid-1990's, as I recall. I remember growing up that I saw a lot of gun racks in trucks carrying rifles/shotguns proudly displayed in the back windows. Then, if you went to someone's house you'd often see a nice wooden and glass faced piece of furniture displaying the best firearms in the collection right up front for all guests to see.

I don't recall seeing either of these very much after the mid-1990's.

I also remember the first time I heard of hunters guns being stolen from a pickup as the owners ate breakfast in a restaurant. I know there were always thieves around but for some reason you just never heard of it .

Some of mine still are...

22250Rem said:

his thread got me thinking of those wooden gun cabinets with the glass doors that seemed pretty common years ago. Now I'm realizing that I haven't seen one in decades

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They have definitely gone out of style, but, a couple of months ago, I saw one in an Amish furniture store and thought: "They aren't going to sell that!"

Yes.

When I was in High School (Salem, Fulton County, Arkansas) in the 1970's, it seemed everybody but me had 1) a pickup truck, 2) a rifle rack in the back window, and 3) at least one rifle in the rack.

Nobody thought about it. Nobody would have imagined using that rifle to kill another student. And nobody ever did use their gun to hurt somebody else.