Holy cow.. what a different world.

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Trent

Trent

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Earlier I saw someone on here link to the Guns Magazine 1960 issues.

Slow day at work, I've been browsing through them (mostly sobbing over yesteryear's prices).

Then I stumbled on this article.

http://www.gunsmagazine.com/1960issues/G0460.pdf

Begins on page 16, article is titled "These Policemen Teach Teen-Agers to be Straight Shooters."

Excerpt:

While profit-seeking newspaper columnists and sob-sisters (male and female) emote in certain ladies' journals over Homicidal Harriet and her murdered little brother - while "get rid of guns" hysteria captures neurotic "moms" and the tender-minded of both sexes, thousands of America's best policemen are making a sounder, more practical approach to the problem. They know that a murderer's psychosis cannot be cured by city ordinance, that the absence of a gun will not prevent and undisciplined punk from committing violence with some other weapon - that the best breeder of teen-age crime is "nothing to do" - and that the strict self control, physical and mental, that is essential to firearms marksmanship is a first-class substitute for the lacking parental or other discipline in the development of proper conduct, social responsibility, and the respect for others that is the basis of law-abiding citizenship.
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Considering my children today aren't even allowed to talk about, draw pictures of, or even make hand gestures that look like a gun (think pew-pew), without immediate expulsion, this article about made me choke on my coffee.

It never really hit me how different our society used to be, until I started digging around in the past.
 
Begins on page 16, article is titled "These Policemen Teach Teen-Agers to be Straight Shooters."
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I remember back in the mid/late 1970s, as a young cub scout, participating in an excursion to a police precinct, getting the tour, and then we got a bit of rifle instruction down in the basement range (with a 22lr) after a basic firearms safety talk. This was my first exposure to firing a rifle (and safety instruction) ... courtesy of the NYPD, no less!!. 'Twas a different age. In many (most) ways, the city I grew up in, no longer exists ...
 
Yeah, you can ask just about anyone who is over 50 & they will tell you how different it used to be.............Just ask me
 
punk and citizenship

The author used the word "punk"...here I was thinking this was a contemporary expression.

He also used the word "citizenship", a concept which has been replaced in the minds of many by the customer and market-oriented "taxpayer".
 
You can thank the takeover of the public school system by leftists that really exploded during LBJ's "Great Society" days in the middle 60's for most of today's views. Remember - the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
 
Oneounceload - you aren't joking, man.

They were on to that concept in Germany with the Lebensborn program (Aryan babies of SS troopers were raised by the state in government facilities, never knew their parents. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensborn)

Gun ownershiop.. it's being bred out of us, guys. If we don't get shooting programs back in the schools, we're going to lose this fight for our rights in a few generations.
 
I know - I grew up in NYC during the 50's, 60's and middle 70's saw the Teacher's Union get stronger, saw education get less and less important compared to political agendas - it has taken time, but they ARE winning in the schools - both elementary and college. It would be nice to see gun training in schools - I would settle, however for no more vilifying guns and owners like they do to little kids in art class or on the playground. A T shirt with a picture on it can't hurt anyone.......

Compared to those years, this really is 1984 and Brave New World all rolled into one.

VOTE your rights tomorrow folks
 
I'm from Texas. Boys get their first gun, usually a .22, on their twelfth birthday or twelfth Christmas. Many of the gals do too. Almost everyone in my family regardless of age either carries concealed or at least keeps a fully loaded shotgun under the bed. Three generations still kicking.

I simply cannot comprehend anyone wanting to live in NYC or Chicago and giving up their 2AR's. Different planet, I guess.
 
I'm from Texas. Boys get their first gun, usually a .22, on their twelfth birthday or twelfth Christmas. Many of the gals do too. Almost everyone in my family regardless of age either carries concealed or at least keeps a fully loaded shotgun under the bed. Three generations still kicking.
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12? Man, you start them late down there...

Just j/k with ya. Glad you're passing on the tradition!
 
My father in law was just saying today that when he was in high school in D.C. the school had a firing range in the basement where the shooting team would practice. He would regularly walk from home to school and back carrying his rifle and ammunition. Said it was common at all the D.C. schools. Man how times have changed!
 
I can remember they used to have shooting teams in the basement at the local YMCA. And just about every high school, big or small, had a shooting team, with the rifles and ammunition being kept right there on the school premises.

Yes things have definitely changed quite a bit since then.
 
A life-long friend and I were discussing "changes" not too long ago. We both wondered what would happen if teenagers walked through the neighborhood where we lived today carrying shotguns.

We would often walk from our houses carrying our shotguns to the (at that time) empty fields that were filled with pheasants - no one cared, called the police or found it the least bit intimidating to see two kids with guns.

Never mind the pellet guns and BB guns we played with outdoors nearly every day when we were too young to shoot "real" guns.

But that was also when the farm kids got a week off in the spring for planting and another week off in the fall for harvest - and the schools "excused" you to go pheasant and deer hunting without a question.
 
Although popular attitudes towards firearms have changed dramatically since 1960, we haven't lost the battle. Just this past weekend I had four female school teachers in my concealed carry class. One of the biggest gun nuts I know is married to a Middle School Principal. My son is dating a young lady who's mother is the head of Communications for a large State University and her husband is an avid firearms supporter. Both of my sons had a Middle School science teacher who is all about guns and we reguarly see him at the local gun shows. So even though there is a strong anti-gun bias prevelant in many schools, we still have "moles" among them.

First of all, we need to set the shining example. Back off on the Rambo comments and bravado and set an example of what a safe, sensible and confident gun owner looks like.

Next, we must never miss an opportunity to bring people into the fold. Teach, mentor, invite, offer. We can all do a better job of that.

The NRA has an active personal safety program called Refuse To Be A Victim. This program focuses on increased awareness and other safety protocols with minimal mention of firearms. This is a great program for getting people, even non-gun friendly folks, to think about personal safety. Once they begin adopting a safety and awareness mindset firearm ownership won't be far behind. It's nearly inevitable.

We can turn this around.
 
I see now why my Dad had so many. M1 garrand $79 and change, .45cal 1911 $34.95 and box of 100 ammo for $5. I love it.
 
We both wondered what would happen if teenagers walked through the neighborhood where we lived today carrying shotguns.
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To this day, I still see kids walking down the road with pellet guns, 22's and Shotguns. The Swat Team doesn't show up. Police have not cordoned off my town and drawn down on them. They dont pay them much mind.

About the only thing I find peculiar is the fact that they are actually walking. :)

I guess it still pays to live in the country.. I'm sure 60miles down the road (Houston) the city kids would probably be arrested, harassed and or the swat team called.
 
Jaxondog, those prices sure sound good compared to what you see today. Thing you have to take into consideration is what a person's income was in that time frame.
 
The ads in ALL of those damn Guns issues make me cry.

This entry early on in that same issue - this one touched a different emotion.

Compare the Massachusetts lawmakers then, to the Massachusetts lawmakers today.

552421_482178715146397_1210170164_n.jpg



For those who can't view photos hosted on Facebook:

Senator John F. Kennedy
Comm.: Foreign Relations;
Labor & Public Welfare; Joint Economic Comm.
Massachusetts

BY CALLING ATTENTION to "a well regulated militia," the "security" of the nation, and the right of each citizen to "keep and bear arms," our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important.
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What a different world. The liberals of yesteryear standing for and protecting our rights while the conservatives of today (in the same state, no less), sign all those rights away with the stroke of a pen and a smile.

How times have changed, indeed.

Anything else I have to say about this would not meet the Art's Grandma's litmus test for acceptable submissions. :)
 
Jaxondog said:
I see now why my Dad had so many. M1 garrand $79 and change, .45cal 1911 $34.95 and box of 100 ammo for $5. I love it.
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Looks like in todays money that M1 would cost you $591 and some change. The 1911 would be $261.75 and the ammo would be $37.45. Good but not enough to make me cry (and this is surplus).
 
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While profit-seeking newspaper columnists and sob-sisters (male and female) emote in certain ladies' journals over Homicidal Harriet and her murdered little brother - while "get rid of guns" hysteria captures neurotic "moms" and the tender-minded of both sexes, thousands of America's best policemen are making a sounder, more practical approach to the problem. They know that a murderer's psychosis cannot be cured by city ordinance, that the absence of a gun will not prevent and undisciplined punk from committing violence with some other weapon - that the best breeder of teen-age crime is "nothing to do" - and that the strict self control, physical and mental, that is essential to firearms marksmanship is a first-class substitute for the lacking parental or other discipline in the development of proper conduct, social responsibility, and the respect for others that is the basis of law-abiding citizenship.
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While I in no way agree with the anti-gun crowd it's language like this that probably got us laughed out of the political process. Not to mention that "profit seeking columnists" in this case is highly ironic.

We may not agree with them, but this is about very basic respect. And frankly this kind of rhetoric is very likely one of the reasons gun politics got laughed out of any kind of meaningful debate.

Call it whatever you will. It's self righteous, insulting and nothing less than name calling. were someone to say this in my BN in a public forum I'd shut that down for being not fit for grown-up conversation. Pathetic. I am glad our ability for political discourse has evolved beyond this. (It may not have much, but man. It's better than this.)
 
When my dad was in school, he was expected/required to show up on campus every day with his school-assigned rifle for ROTC marksmanship class. When I was in school, I was expected to have a rifle in my vehicle to go hunting with my teacher after school. If my child so much as says the word "gun", he'll be expelled. Sickening.
 
You'll have to factor in inflation to get a realistic grasp on the prices. You would also gasp at the price of a loaf of bread or a gallon of gasoline from the same era.

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there"
- Leslie Poles Hartley

The socialization of firearm ownership has to be improved if we want to move away from the current circumstances. Offering opportunities for positive youth involvement is one of the important elements of that challenge.
 
The socialization of firearm ownership has to be improved if we want to move away from the current circumstances. Offering opportunities for positive youth involvement is one of the important elements of that challenge.
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Fact right there.
 
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