guns in public "once upon a time"

[BigFatKen]

The thread about the member who had some shotshells in his truck had a number of "we used to ....."

It would be interesting for us to see where we came from, It may help us tell where we are going.:

I used to take my uncased 30# bow and a quiver of arrows to the end of the bus line and go hunting. Later I got a good bicycle and rode there. My nephew had a .22LR that he took cased in the bus to an indoor range. This was Milwaukee, WI circa 1960. Then came GCA 1968 and it all changed.

Any other stories?

Next post sometime. When did the "Nanny State" start?

 

[JoeHatley]

It was common to see uncased rifles and shotguns in pickup truck, back window gun racks, well into the 1970's around here. Boxes of ammo were almost always on the dash.

Joe

 

[Zen21Tao]

It was common to see uncased rifles and shotguns in pickup truck, back window gun racks, well into the 1970's around here. Boxes of ammo were almost always on the dash.

When I was growing up I remember my uncles carrying (at least) a shotgun and a rifle most of the time. This was norm for most trucks in the small town I grew up in. I don't know if this is still legal today or not as it became so common to me that I stoped noticing whether or not a truck with gun rack had a gun in it or not. However, I don't see them making guns in gun racks of truck illegal due to southern heritage.

 

[nwgunslinger]

You may find this hard to believe, but I used to fly all the time with guns. I usually had a handgun of some sort in my carryon, long guns were cased and carried on as well. I'd hand them to the stewardess (that's what they were called a long time ago!) and she'd (ALWAYS a "she") put them in the coat closet with the hanging bags and hand them to me as I got off the plane.

That was before the infamous D.B. Cooper incident. That's when all that really started changing.

 

[MrTwigg]

I remember my Dad

getting shotguns in the mail from Sears.

...and walking through the center of town with a couple of friends all of us carrying .22's on our way bunny hunting and never getting as much as a second glance from anybody.

Whoever said you can't go home again was right.

 

[engineer151515]

1979.

Shot ROTC marksmanship at high school.

Nobody thought twice about it.

 

[nwgunslinger]

Another "hard to believe", but in high school, I took my rabbit gun to school with me so I could go hunting straight from school. Lots of us used to do that. Heck, you'd even see pickup trucks in the student parking lot with guns in the gun rack. I even remember a kid when I was in 3rd or 4th grade bringing in a German Luger to "show and tell". Can you imagine that today!!!!

These days people make comments like "Where do kids get these guns?" and I think about us. Hell, at least 75% of the boys in my graduating class probably owned at least one gun of their own by then. I keep telling people that it's not the guns and it's not access to guns. Back in the fifties in rural america just about every kid had access to guns and there were no school shootings. If we had a beef with someone we went out by the bleachers and had a knock down drag out and that was it. It never occured to us to go get our gun and shoot someone!

 

[rero360]

I graduated from high school in 2001 and I remember when I was in middle school the high schoolers would bring their bows and paintball guns to school on the bus to show various teachers who were into that sort of stuff. I'm from an extremely small town, about 2 thousand including all the hill folk (myself included) and to this day when I go home I still see people driving around with guns in the gun racks in their trucks.

of course I remember looking across the valley into deliverence on summer nights watching the spot lights as people jack light deer in the farm fields.

 

[Hook686]

Times certainly change

Yup ... I recall ordering my revolvers and rifles by mail in the 60's while in the Air Force in California (can you believe that ?), taking my shotgun, more likely my cousins, a box of shells an going across the street to the railroad tracks ... we use to walk along the tracks and shoot squirrels, anything that flew by and rabbits. I was maybe 10, my cousin and his friends about the same. This was in Wisconsin, across the river from Minneapolis. Before4 10, it'd be BB guns and the likely kid had a .177 pellet rifle.

Ahhh the simple and naive life was sure wonderful.

 

[Standing Wolf]

A week or ten days after John Kennedy's assassination, a high school friend brought his rifle—identical or nearly identical to Oswald's—to school for show and tell during history class.

The principal or assistant principal stopped him on the way in to make sure it was unloaded, heard what the purpose of bringing it to school was, and suggested he leave it in his locker until class and not forget to take it home at the end of the day.

Nobody got shot. Isn't that amazing?

 

[Rembrandt]

Early 1960's....school bus driver carried a (cased) double barrel 12 gauge behind his seat. Ten kids left on the bus when we saw pheasants in a nearby corn field....bus driver stops, his son got the shotgun, poked it out the bus window and tagged a rooster. Rest of us kids went running out to see who'd be first to get the pheasant. Do that today and you'd be on every network news channel....if not in jail.

 

[wdlsguy]

My dad was a high school teacher and a hunter safety instructor. He taught his hunter safety class at the high school after hours. One time he forgot to bring the rifle and shotgun he was going to use as props, so he asked me to bring them from our house to his classroom. I ran into the principal as I was entering the high school. The principal made a joke about not shooting anybody and went on his way.

 

['Card]

nwgunslinger: "...and there were no school shootings."
No, see... that's the thing. There were school shootings. There were occasionally gun-related crimes, and according to most statistics there was a lot more physical violence (in terms of fights and such) than there is now. The difference is media attention, and people's attitude towards personal responsibility.

A kid in Kentucky built 12 pipe bombs and hid them under his school. When he set them off, one of the rooms was wrecked, but most of the bombs were duds and no one was hurt. The interesting thing about that case? Nobody wanted to ban gunpowder and plumbing because of it. No one blamed the media or the books the kid had been reading, or the music he'd been listening to, or the people he was hanging around with. This was in 1916, and people blamed the kid and the parents who raised him.

But anyway...

When I was a kid growing up in WV, if you were more than 12 or 13 years old and didn't have a .22 and a shotgun of some kind (commonly a .16 or .20 gauge) then people just assumed you were morally deficient or something. On Saturday mornings we'd all grab our shotguns and go "sight hunting" (shooting whatever happened to pop into your sights) for birds, squirrels, rabbits, whatever. Nobody would see us or hear from us until the sun was about to go down - and nobody worried about it.

 

[Sistema1927]

I graduated from High School in 1974, and more days than not I had guns in my vehicle in the school parking lot, even in plain sight when I drove a pick-up. This was much more convenient than having to go home first before hunting jack rabbits, doves, quail, and other small game in the appropriate seasons.

I took guns to school as drama props, and even once for a "show and tell" sort of activity in a public speaking class.

We would check un-neutered M14s (with "da' switch") out of the ROTC arms room for drill, cleaning, etc., and could also check .22 match rifles out to fire on the indoor range.

Really strange that none of us gunned down our class mates, what were we doing wrong?

 

[beaucoup ammo]

Early '60's / Flower Bluff / South Of Corpus Christi

One of our Dad's would drop us off for a 2 or 3 week stay in the summer. Had a little screened in shack with a boat right on the water. Always had our 22's along..neighbors 100 yards away on the left and right..never a problem..just a friendly wave.

See You At The Range

 

[MIUper]

When I was in 7th grade (1979) taking Hunter Safety, the teacher wanted us to bring our guns to school for "gun cleaning day". Imagine virtually every boy in 7th grade showing up with a shotgun, .22, or deer rifle; we came on foot, by bus, etc. I rode my bike.

 

[rdbrowning]

For one of my 10th grade (1974) metal shop classes I made a hunting knife with a 6" blade from a power hack saw blade.

When my younger brother was in gym class (1977ish) they had archery and the teacher allowed all who hunted to bring their own equipment to class instead of the cheap fiberglass recurves the school provided.

 

[mbs357]

Heck, I'm only nineteen and I remember a time back when I was younger when folks rode around with rifles in their trucks all the time, talked about hunting all the time, and actually had good places to go hunting...and yes, they actually went hunting often.
It's still around these days, but not as much...
Of course, I live in a pretty rural area.

 

[TexasRifleman]

My high school principal was a big hunter, and he used to "teach" a study hall class (blow off class for seniors).

I remember taking that study hall and spending every class in the back of the room with a compound bow and foam target working on techniques and talking about the upcoming hunting season.

 

[f4t9r]

It was common to see uncased rifles and shotguns in pickup truck, back window gun racks, well into the 1970's around here. Boxes of ammo were almost always on the dash.

Same here and carried a 22 rifle in the back of my Mustang. Everyone could see it

 

[ABTOMAT]

This wasn't me, but a fellow on another board had a high school story. At the time many of the students had rifles and shotguns in their cars for deer season. One day, a notice went out over the louspeaker announcing that, due to a recent rash of daytime car break-ins, students were advised to bring their firearms into school for the day.

 

[one-shot-one]

?!?!?!?

"This was in 1916, and people blamed the kid and the parents who raised him."

there is the difference, to day the blame gets spread so thin as to make the crime nearly irrevelant.
personal responsability, then, now and always, no matter what "they" say.:banghead:

 

[SlimeDog]

Philomath, Oregon, circa 1983-84: It was not uncommon for kids to bring rifles to school in their vehicles during hunting season. My best friend and I often brought rifles so we could go plink* at the local gravel pit in the afternoons. Also, any self-respecting boy always had a pocketknife in those days.

I know it's hard to imagine, but nobody ever got hurt. Strange, but true.

* - Maybe plinking isn't the right word with a .270 - it's amazing what that does to a glass bottle (remember those?) filled solid with water...

 

[KriegHund]

Its sad, but funny. People are always asking me for my pocket knife or flashlight (mini maglight) its sad because they are so helpful, yet no one carries them anymore, and funny because...well...i dunno why.

 

[jtward01]

When I was 16 (1970) a friend's father gave me a little RG .22LR revolver. A real piece of crap gun but hey, it was my first handgun (already owned several long guns by then) and I had a lot of fun with it. The thing is, the guy that gave it to me was a sergeant on the local police department. Can you imagine what would happen to a cop today who gave a handgun to a juvenile?

I carried that gun to school in my car everyday so I could go plinking in nearby woods after school, or shoot at the Optimist Club's range which was set up next to their club house.

Before I could drive I often carried a gun across the handle bars of my bicycle. Some days it was a Daisy BB gun that was a dead ringer for a Winchester Model 94. Other days it was a Stevens Favorite .22 rifle, or my Winchester Model 37 shotgun. It just depended on where I was going and the type of shooting I was planning. Nobody ever paid me any attention.