So, what would you NOT do these days?

[2nd Amendment]

Another post got me to thinking, what would you instinctively avoid doing today that you did without a second thought as a kid or teen? Seems we've lost our national ability to put things in perspective.

When I was young we ALL packed knives to school. You could find virtually anything firearm related in someones car in the parking lots. We rode around with rifles on bikes and blew things up with complete abandon. Today? Yeah, would any of you try it now? Do you or would you let your children do any of the things you took for granted? And if you did, would you be surprised when the PD called and said "Y'er in a lotta trouble..."?

 

[2dogs]

No guns as a kid (my Granddad had them though).

Drink and drive and all manner of evil things I did back then. Geez, I'm practically a saint now. Except I like guns.

 

[AZTOY]

Drugs, i have been clean for 5 years.

 

[bfoster]

This is a national wound more than a national loss.

Bob

 

[Snowdog]

I wouldn't try to race a Mustang with a Maverick these days.

I don't think I'd play war with ether-powered PVC spud guns anymore, either. We found those can break ribs and set coats on fire.

 

[Blackhawk]

This is a national wound more than a national loss.

That's for sure!

 

[spacemanspiff]

i dont steal anymore. i was a klepto, anything i thought no one would miss (like comics or dirty magazines from the quickymart) to things that i didnt care who would miss, i'd steal. my older brother would routinely search my room for stolen items, and he always found something. my pattern bit me in my ass though, as i was accused of stealing a diamond ring and earrings from my mothers employer. i was innocent, but try convincing your family of that when you've always been guilty in the past. thankfully, the detective investigating the theft did believe me. it was kinda funny, at the end of her questioning me, she asked if i knew what a polygraph test was, and i didnt. so she tells me its a lie detector and then asked what the results would be if i took the test.
i said 'it'd show i am telling the truth'.
then i came up with a question for her: "What do YOU think it would say?"
she replied "i think it would say that too."

they never did find out who took the ring and earrings.

 

[2nd Amendment]

Hmm, this thread has taken an unexpected turn. I was aiming for things we took for granted as youths, rights of passage, or what have you, that would get the ninjas all over you today. Instead we get some seriously interesting stuff here. Hmmm.

 

[444]

I don't know if this qualifies, but I would never shoot or even let it be known that I own a gun around my own house. When I was a kid, I used to shoot out in the yard all the time. We lived outside of town but our nearest neighbor was only a couple hundred feet away. I shot everything from rifles to shotguns to airguns. As an adult, I moved into a semi-rural area, my neighbors are further away than when I was a kid. I only have neighbors on two sides of me, but I wouldn't think of even shooting a pellet gun outside the house for fear of having the police called or causing some kind of panic. I intended to set up a little air rifle silhouette range in my yard but since have thought better of it. I have shot a bow out in the yard and didn't raise any eyebrows. I also once shot a jackrabbit in the middle of the road with a pellet pistol because it had been hit by a car and was dragging its hindquarters. But other than that, I try to not let the fact that I own guns become common knowlege. When I load my car to go shooting, I wait until the neighbor across the street is in the house. When I was a kid, I left the house with guns all the time to shoot or hunt. I have walked down the road we lived on thousands of times with guns and never gave it a thought. I don't think my neighbors are antis, or even the type to panic at the sight of a lawfully owned gun, but today, you can't take any chances.

 

[King]

How about stuff like siphoning gas out of people's cars. We were bold enough and young enough to do it right outside their houses. A lot of the time, you could see them inside watching TV. Most of the guys did this type of thing on a regular basis because we didn't have money for gas.


Do that today and you might get toasted..........

 

[Mover]

I would not have BB gun fights, bottle rocket fights or even mudball fights.

Mover

 

[kuroineko]

Things I did then that I would not do now?
Walk about 2 miles from my house (from populated area to BFE) with a .22 Marlin slung over my shoulder to go plinking.

 

[Schuey2002]

When I was young (7 or 8 years of age)I use to wonder around the "hood" with a loaded BB gun shooting anything that moved..
Dogs,cats,and all four legged critters got pumped full of those coppery-orbs..

Ah,the '70's.. Boy,I miss my childhood.

 

[Kevinch]

My boyhood home stood at the top of a hill. At the bottom of the hill was (& still is) a traffic signal where my street intersected a 4 lane highway. Acroos the intersection stands a Sears.

Half way down the hill, between my home & the traffic signal, is an intersection with a side street.

I used to wait on my "English Racer" bicycle (dating myself a little here) at that side street intersection until I saw the traffic signal go yellow for the traffic on the highway. I then would begin pedaling downhill and time my arrival at the intersection (we hope) when the light went green for me, & see if I could go airborne as I hit it as there was a dip right before you hit the highway.

Of course, all of this was done in a t-shirt & shorts. People turning left out of the Sears could also cause issues.

 

[Tamara]

If I was pulling into my high school parking lot today, instead of 16 years ago, I sure as heck wouldn't have a 12ga, a Lee Enfield and a folding-stock 10/22 in the trunk...

 

[Oleg Volk]

In the old days (pre-97), I would not have a couple of guns on me. I did not buy ammo by the case or expect houseguests to bring rifles. To me, the evolution has been -- from an admittedely low baseline -- towards owning arms, carrying them, using them and teaching others how to do the same. Moreover, I've learned that law enforcement and military is made up of mostly decent people who support my rights as I support theirs.

These days, I would not leave home without a weapon, preferably a firearm, just as I wouldn't go out naked. It is a matter of comfort and social proprieties.

These days, I would not tolerate a person who wishes to subjugate others, no matter for what cause.

 

[BigG]

The way that question reads, it leaves a lot of latitude for interpretation.

 

[Atticus]

Hmmm....I probably wouldn't take a thousand mile road trip in a beat up Pontiac with 150k miles on it, $200 in my pocket, mind altering substances scattered about, and a handgun under the seat. I'd drive something better now.

 

[benewton]

Flip side: something I should have done then, but "knew better".

Could have done Woodstock, except that I'd have had to go with $10 and hitch with some friends...

There's a penalty paid for growing up to soon!

 

[redneck2]

Sounds wierd now...

I used to take a shotgun or .22 on the school bus to my friends house and drop it off so we could rabbit hunt after school

man, how things have changed since the 60's

funny, every, and I mean EVERY farmhouse had loaded guns and I never knew anyone that got hurt or caused problems

of course, that was a time when the old man would put you over his knee....frivilous lawsuits would have been laughed out of court...people were responsible for themselves and their actions

 

[Trisha]

I don't listen to people who council rape survivors to be non-violent: that just got me raped a second time and I was unarmed and completely unskilled in martial arts!

NEVER again!

I don't encourage lesbians to stay in the closet for any reason - we learn to love ourselves and become empowered when we stop any and all self-loathing because we unconsciously transmit that and end up becomming targets for goblins who practice gay-bashing...

And I don't listen to anybody who councils women "to stick to smaller calibers" because "women just can't shoot big guns!"

Trisha

 

[Sisco]

If I had it to do over again? I'd avoid drinking & driving, smokin' so much pot, stumbling drunk down dark alley ways in third world countries & would stay out of Hong Kong tattoo parlors.
Luckily for me and fortunately for others I never caused harm to anyone or did any to myself doing all that stuff.

 

[Oleg Volk]

And I don't listen to anybody who councils women "to stick to smaller calibers" because "women just can't shoot big guns!"

All local women I who carry use 45ACP. Most men tend to carry 9x19. So much for the myth. Don't listen to Ian Hogg and his "powerful 45" tales.

Goblins of any kind need lead therapy. I don't care if they pick on others over religion, sexual orientation, ned for cash, spite or no reason at all -- wages of wantonly initiated aggression should be painful.

 

[Monkeyleg]

Things I wouldn't do? Geez, what a list. Some gun related and most not.

1. Not assume that a mattress against a brick basement wall is a good backstop for a .45.

2. Not do drugs (did a whole lot for a few years).

3. Not hide my naked girlfriend in the shower stall when my mother needed to use the bathroom.

4. Not hitchhike (the only time I ever came close to using a weapon on an attacker).

5. Not steal. Experienced cops know how to give the most painful wedgies. (It only took one episode to convert me, though ).

6. Not start smoking.

There's more, but you get the idea: suburban punk.

 

[spacemanspiff]

All local women I who carry use 45ACP.

for some reason when i read that sentence i transposed the "I" and "who". reads VERY differently.