Adam-12 RKBA Watching a neat old show with lots of guns.

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cyclopsshooter

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I know we don't do T.V. or movies here on THR- no problem if this needs to be deleted.

I recently discovered Adam-12 on Netflix which was a police show set in L.A. in the late 60s and early 70s. From what I understand it was one of the last shows to depict law enforcement in a neat, clean, tidy manner. It was obviously popular because of its long broadcast run.

I have really enjoyed the period detail of the show.. automobiles, firearms, mini-skirts.. :D Even more, it is loaded with the old-school art of manhood... honor, dignity, discipline... I thoroughly enjoy this show! But I digress..

The Guns: The two main players are what appear to be the Smith and Wesson Model 15/19? and the Colt 1911- Commercial models and ex-G.I. you can even see the lanyard loops!

My reason for posting is to get some feedback about how accurate the show depicts guns in California 40 years ago. We all here at THR gripe about the present state of that state but this show handles guns just about as we do in my modern day rural area. I have a hell of a time picturing this ever being the case in California

Things I have noted
-Concealed carry is a no-no
-Bad guys nearly always carry a 1911
-LAPD officers do not run serial numbers.
-Good guy shoots bad guy with a .22 that he's still holding, tells officer he wished he'd had his 30-30. Officer nods, never asked to see .22 rifle.
-18 year old accidentally shoots self with a .22 and the officers basically say that's what happens when you're stupid.

I really do love this show- And I had NO idea that hippies and flower-people were such a menace to society! :rolleyes: It is a rather conservative show.

What say you THR folk of 60s and 70s L.A. Is this the way it was?
 
i use to watch when it came on tvland i liked it then but the only episode i remember was when they went to a school for some reason a kid was sittng by a tree playing with a pocket knife they didnt even make a issue about it untill the cop got back to his car to find it with 4 flats then again it could have been dragnet
 
I love that show too. I think however, there is an exaggeration of gun violence. Between Reed and Malloy, they shoot about 30 suspects during the series, many of which die. Those are some high death tolls for two cops.
 
But they all needed shootin! It is wrong to blame the cops for the abnormally large number of bad people they encounter. The problem isn't with the cops, but with the bad people. The show makes that clear.

My dad was a cop. Reed was more like the cops of that period, like my dad was in the 60s, or appeared to be. Of course, he was in Dallas and never shot anyone. One thing he commented on that was cool for for the time was the depictions of radio use. The radio was on in the background and you could barely hear it until Adam-12 was called. That is the way it really worked as a patrolman in a car he said where you relegated non-relevant calls and jibber jabber to being background noise, but heard your call sign like it was being spoken to you loudly. For me, Adam-12 went to Squad 51 (paramedics) and then I lost interest in CA civil matters.
 
I have it on DVD. It's a good police procedural. Some early DVDs have commentary on a second audio track of two L.A. police officers commenting on how accurate the show was, what tactical mistakes were made, and how different tactics were used back then and how they evolved.
One favorite skit was Reed & Malloy encountering a drunkie who was complaining -- literally -- of seeing a PINK ELEPHANT!!!! The two policemen were of course ekeptical....but then they turn a corner and ....A PINK ELEPHANT!!!!!!!! It's a circus elephant that was painted pink for a circus act!:neener:
 
California was one of the more pro-gun states in the nation for much of the 20th century.

Even some of the big legislative defeats were not targeting the regular population but certain minorities.

The 1920s ban on unlicensed concealed carry, that began one of the earliest concealed carry licenses in the nation started as a means to prohibit hispanic and asian immigrants from having the right to carry.

The late 1960s ban on loaded open carry, signed into law by later president Ronald Reagan as the Mulford Act was meant to target the Black Panthers.

Both forms of legislation did not pass because California was anti-gun at the time, but rather because the population and legislature was fearful of these armed minority groups, which had a different culture and were involved in violence.
(The premise of the 1920s act was to reduce violence of Asian and Hispanic gangs. While creating a licensing system that at the time almost any white person could obtain a license through with ease.
While the black panthers targeted by the 1967 legislation were well known for violence, and intimidated both the population and law enforcement being able to openly carry loaded guns.)


So my point is not to defend the legislation, which has since been used to strip not only some of their rights, but most of the population. But rather to show they were not passed out of anti-gun sentiment at the time, but rather fear of the groups with the guns.
A lot of legislation that strips all sorts of rights of everyone starts out that way. It targets someone the majority of the population dislikes, and it sets the precedent to gradually remove everyones' rights.


California did not become anti-gun until the 1980s.
California has had what amounts to Castle Doctrine for example long before the term was commonly used in the pro-gun circles. While in many states someone had to retreat even in their home, in California a person's home has long given an automatic presumption that lethal force was justified againt most who break in).
Anyone could buy a gun much easier than in many parts of the country, even easier than in parts of the south that licensed handguns sale dating back to the Jim Crow South.

California was once one of the more pro-gun states. Not surprising considering it was once the frontier. Much like Alaska today, it was where people went to escape the restrictions and problems elswhere and be free. Off to the frontier, even after it ceased to be the frontier.
California was what Alaska is today in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Attracting good and bad that couldn't or didn't want to fit in elsewhere and so went out to the frontier. A group typically seeing themselves as self sufficient and so likely appreciating firearms.
It was not until it was also the center of the counter culture movements of the 1960s that the culture shaped by that history began to change. The counter culture based especially in San Francisco. By the 1980s that sentiment had spread to the other major cities and California was a much more anti-gun place. In the 1980s-1990s the hip-hop gang culture became strong and a lot of anti-gun legislation was passed on the premise of targeting that group. Including things like the 'assault weapon' bans that targeted firearms that at the time were rarely used by gangs outside of movies.
As well as legislation targeting inexpensive firearms, and other tedious things associated with California today.
 
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Adam 12 was a Jack Webb production. Webb always had an "inside" with LAPD, because of Dragnet. He was a close friend of Bill Parker, long time Chief of Police, LAPD.

I have a good friend, now retired, who went on the LAPD in 1968, after he came back from Vietnam. His issue revolver, as were all the LAPD issued revolvers, was a S&W Model 10, 6" barrel, .38 Spec. At that time, the issue ammo was the old standard 158 grains round nose lead bullet.

Later on, I believe, LAPD went to the S&W Model 15 Combat Masterpiece .38 Spec., which was the same revolver issued for many years by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Dept., to its deputies.

Th first handgun I bought in California., was in 1963, a Great Western Single Action .22 LR. I had to go the LAPD to get permission to buy it, and had to wait either ten or fifteen days for approval. Can't remember exactly how long. I later traded that revolver away and am still sorry I did 'cause it was a really good shooter.

L.W.
 
Scarey part for me is that I lived thru those clothes!!!! Heck, I think I still have a paisley print, wide collard shirt and a pair of cordoroy bell bottoms somewhere in the back of my closet. Too bad they don't fit anymore, I could put them on and scare the heck out of the neighbors.:evil:

But, the mini skirts were nice. Yep, mini's and nylons, garter belts and all. No panty hose back then. Dang, now I'm feeling old and getting depressed. Thanks.
 
I really liked that old series.
I remember one where Malloy and Reed took their girlfriend and pregnant wife to some ghost town that was later over run by a bunch of 1 percenter bikers who destroy Reeds car and then discover where they are hiding.
Malloy and Reed both pulled out concealed carry 38 snubs to defend themselves and company.
Ever notice the way their holstered service revolvers were carried.
Looks rather sloppy by todays standard.
 
I used to watch it as a kid, but haven't seen it for years. I'll have to watch a few episodes, but I'm sure it will be a bit hokey.
 
I used to watch that with SWAT. Now I can still remember that awesome theme song. That's when when cops were the good guys.
 
I've read the show was reasonably accurate in terms of police procedures and LAPD equipment back then.

Just remember though, it was a "cop show" so "reasonably accurate" still leaves a LOT of room for the changes needed to make good TV drama. Just the number of shootouts the two main characters are in during the careers as a prime example.

I'd say if you wanna get "a feel" for 70's era LA police procedure, it'll work for that, but if you really want to know "how it was back then" find some histories of the LAPD or documentaries or something.
 
California must have been a different world prior to the 80's. I always enjoyed Coopers stories about growing up and living in the California of old and the gun freedom and freedom in general they had.
 
I hadn't watched that show since probably the 70's, when I was a kid. I just watched a couple of seasons on Netflix a year ago, and was amazed at some of the terms and procedures used, that are still in place today in policing. Great show, of a different time. I was five years old in 69 and still remember mini skirts. Interesting perspective as a five year old :what:.
 
X-RAP - "California must have been a different world prior to the 80's. I always enjoyed Coopers stories about growing up and living in the California of old and the gun freedom and freedom in general they had."
Click to expand...

Actually California was changing to the much more "left" ideology long before 1980+. There were long festering anti-gun groups there long before 1980, and a major push came when Gov. Ronald Reagan caved to the gun grabbers and signed the "No Open & Loaded" carry law, much earlier.

Then when Robert Kennedy was murdered at the Ambassador Hotel in L.A., 1968, the push for more and more "reasonable, common sense gun control" laws really accelerated.

I moved to Calif. in Feb., 1962. In 1963, as I stated above, I had to get permission from LAPD, to buy a .22 revolver. No problem for me, but it was an inconvenience and restriction that criminals did not bother to go to to obtain their firearms.

It was even then almost impossible for an honest citizen to get a CCW in the various Calif. metropolitain cities and counties, unless one was a friend of the Sheriff or Chief of Police, or had donated large coins and support to the Chief or Sheriff. As one example of anti-gun police, LAPD's Chief of Police, Bill Parker, was extremely anti-guns in the hands of the citizens. I read a book he wrote years ago in which he made no secret whatsoever that he thought no one but the police should be allowed to own handguns, and only a few should be allowed to own a long gun. So much for his sworn oath.

Nope, at that time Calif. was not as bad as today, but it was no paradise for law abiding gun owners, either.

L.W.
 
I just remember 1 adam 12, see the doorman. For some reason that stuck in my head,lol
 
Yesterday a store owner was shot by a young punk (17).
As he rode away on his motorcycle the next door store owner shot the punk with a 22 rifle.

The shooter told Reed, "I wish I had my 30.30 (I think), that would have stopped him.

Later the kid was found dead in a park.


No tears for the punk and No talk about, "Oh my, you shouldn't have shot that poor boy as he road away".
 
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