"The Rifle" by Gary Paulsen (author of "Hatchet")

[spuscg]

schools always have antigun books, i remember "give a boy a gun" awful book where kids just get tec 9s rifles with 50 round banana clips glocks and bombs and take the school hostage.................because of bullies

terrible book.

watching bowling for columbine was awful, i failed the assighnment, too many wisass coments on my paper.........

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

Russ Columbo Died This Way

On September 2, 1934, Columbo was shot under peculiar circumstances by his longtime friend, photographer Lansing Brown. Columbo was visiting him at the studio one day. In lighting a cigarette, Brown lit the match by striking it against the wooden stock of an antique French dueling pistol. The flame set off a long-forgotten charge in the gun, and a lead pistol ball was fired. The pistol ball ricocheted off a nearby table and hit Columbo in the left eye, killing him almost instantly. Columbo's death was ruled an accident, and Brown exonerated from blame. His funeral mass was attended by numerous Hollywood luminaries, including Bing Crosby and Carole Lombard.

From "Wikipedia"

 

[Cosmoline]

,As far as I know, the rifles were at full-charge, i.e., standard load for the day. This was a Civil War re-enactment camp, set early in the war. Thus, we didn't shoot any Minie balls.

If the balls went in easy over a typical reenactor charge, I wouldn't expect them to break the sound barrier or penetrate very far. To give you an idea, I have to use all my considerable upper body strength to start the .540 roundboall with a ticking patch in that Tryon, and getting out a dryball has required total removal of the breach plug. But the rifle is stout and Pedersoli has very potent suggested loads compared with a musket. The ball comes out well over the speed of sound, and at close range will do explosive damage. I'm still working out some bedding issues but so far accuracy has been a cloverleaf at fifty yards.

In contrast, a loose prb over a light charge in a musket is essentially tossing lead, and is nowhere near as destructive. As you note, the Minnies will engage the rifling and form a tighter seal by design.

 

[KiltedClaymore]

IT'S A BOOK PEOPLE!!!! sheesh!


and i liked the book, thank you very much! in fact, first read it in 2nd grade, got it from the school library. im shocked they let any mention of guns near that library!

 

[mp510]

A contrived ending probably added on for the sake of sales to our wonderful modern education system.

Actually, the book ends with a fly fisherman pulling the rifle out of the river, takeing it home, with some intention on someday shooting it with inspiration from a recent magazine article.

 

[Funderb]

and that, children, is why you always clean the chimney and never leave the door open!

You might accidentally shoot the neighbors.

 

[Ian Sean]

I read it long ago....15 or so years now when my oldest had to read it in school.

I liked it up until the end....then I knew why it was "approved" by the school for kids to read.

Paulson, whatever his original intention, wrote a book that the anti's approve of to "prove" the evils of an old Revolutionary War rifle...let alone how dangerous the modern day equivalent "Assault Rifles" can be.

Now it is a propaganda book....nothing more.

There is a teachers study guide for The Rifle BTW, here is an excerpt from it.

The central issue of The Rifle is one that stirs hot, often angry, sometimes violent debate among Americans. The issue may be summed up by the old cliche "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." Paulsen disagrees with this, and The Rifle is his explanation of how he views weapons. He is uncomplimentary in his portrait of those who belief the cliche.


Personally, I wouldn't pee on Paulson if he were on fire.

 

[General Geoff]

I'd have to read the book to really get the feel for the event that seems to connote this "anti-gun" sentiment, but from what I've read in this thread, the death of the young boy is no more profound or tragic than a collapsing bridge, or a train derailing, or any number of other unfortunate but unforeseen accidents that result in the deaths of one or more people. Life is precious but death cannot be avoided. That should be the message you take away from that event in the book, not that guns are evil and cause death of their own accord.

 

[mondocomputerman]

I loved the book "Hatchet" My teacher read it to us in the 4th grade. I'll have to read his other book.

 

[ljnowell]

Hatchet was one of my favorite books when I was younger. I got it at school when the book fair came when I was in 4th grade. Fantastic book.

 

[230RN]

Actually, the book ends with a fly fisherman pulling the rifle out of the river...

With his fly fishing tackle? I'm curious about how that occured.

 

[Horsemany]

I read Hatchet and THe Rifle last year as an adult. I didn't think any of it was "anti-gun". The Rifle actually goes into great detail about how the gun was made by hand. Even using urine and bear grease to blue it if I remember right. He describes how the rifling is cut and the precision of that gun. I thought THe Rifle was actually pro-gun as I read it. THe message I got was how interesting the history can be of something so old and simple looking.

And in Hatchet the boy risks his life to dive in the lake and search the plane to get a survival .22. I think Paulsen's books are about adventure, wilderness, and survival. No anti-gun sentiment at all IMO. Hatchet actually remind me of one of my favorite movies, The Edge.

 

[230RN]

How times change.

Perhaps I am only thinking the book is anti-firearms because of my perspective on school reading books.

I remember my sixth grade (or so) reader which described in great detail the lives of the pioneers in a fictional northeast town called Hastings Mills.

The author went through great detail on how they lived, what they did. For the girls there was information on how they maintained the cooking fire, how to prepare and preserve food, what a "quilting bee" was all about, etc, etc.

For the boys, there was tons of information on hunting and fishing. The "hero" of the story was a young Tom Hastings, and at one point he was old enough to participate in the annual Turkey Shoot before the Harvest Celebration.

His dad, who had founded the town, was a miller (whence "Hastings Mills") and showed him how to load the muzzleloading rifles, how to prime the pan and shoot, etc. He even took him down to the "gunsmith" / blacksmith's shop to let him watch the smith rifle the barrel which Tom's dad was going to give him on his birthday. The single-cut rifling process was described in detail, as was so many other things --like how the grain mill worked, how powder was made, where to get the guano (local caves) for the saltpeter, how to extract it, etc.

The turkey shoot was described, with a live turkey tied down behind a log. THe skill was not only to shoot the turkey, but to "gobble him up" so he'd raise his head over the log to look around.

Gad! Can you imagine this book being used as a school reader nowadays, 60 or so years later?

How politically incorrect!

Nowadays, I suspect most people don't realize you have to kill a turkey to eat it. They probably think they're made out of soybeans or something.

So:

When I hear about a modern school reader where a gun fires through some rather contrived circumstances involving a spark from a fireplace, and through some bizarre concatenation of improbabilities, strikes someone a distance away, and where the rifle itself is deemed evil and thrown in the river by an emotionally distraught owner, hey...

...I can't help but think that the writer has capitulated to the anti-firearms attitudes of the textbook publishers.

For the sake of a buck.

230RN said that, and he ain't takin' it back.