I probably spent a year diligently helping my mother with the grocery shopping. Then I sat down with the S&H Green Stamps, licked until I ran out of spit, putting those stamps into the booklets. When I had collected enough I went down to the S&H redemption center and ordered a new Mossberg 20-gauge shotgun, patiently waited until the phone call telling me my order was ready, then presented myself to claim my reward. The nice lady made me promise that I had permission to have a gun.

I wasn't the only kid in 8th grade carrying a shotgun or .22 rifle to school. We left the guns in the principal's office, then went hunting on the way home. If within walking distance from town the squirrels, rabbits, doves, quail, pheasants, and occasional fox didn't stand much of a chance against a small army of young boys after 8 hours of boring classwork.

At Christmas time a box of shotgun shells or .22 ammo were standard stocking stuffers. My brothers and I usually bought a carton of cigarettes for Dad. Just about any gas station or neighborhood store had a selection to choose from. You want shorts or long rifles? Filter tip or regular?

Then I discovered cars and girls. Few years later there was a draft notice in the mail, took a bus ride to the induction center, then on my way to Army basic training. Want to jump out of airplanes, young man? Beats walking to the battlefield, and you never have to worry about the plane crash-landing. You will love it, for sure!

Had a friend that grew up near Pittsburg. Get on the school bus with your
rifle or shotgun, nobody batted an eye. He had a friend that his Father reloaded.
He kept hundreds of rounds in his locker he sold to other students, teachers and the Principal.
Amazing times we live in today!

My Presbyterian church Pastor was a Naval Reserve Chaplain & set up a .22 range behind the church. The Boy Scout camp had a .22 rifle range. Even in the late 1980's my stepson would take his shotgun to school in his truck so he could go direct to the dove field after school. The school was in downtown Franklin, TN, not a rural school.

Used to hunt on the way to school in the morning too. About a 2 mile walk thru the woods to get there. Guns were kept in Mr. Christian's coat room. If you got anything on the way in, the lunch lady would put in the cooler for you till the end of the day. Don't remember her name.

When I was in high school, it was nothing to see pickups with easy rider rifle racks in the back window with a rifle or shotgun in them, parked at school.

I was a trapper…

Walked my line before school, trusty .22 in hand to dispatch muskrats and such.

quote:

Originally posted by kyoung:
When I was in high school, it was nothing to see pickups with easy rider rifle racks in the back window with a rifle or shotgun in them, parked at school.

I remember them too. Good Lord what happen to you today if you had one.

My uncle was a farmer in southern Illinois. As a kid I remember him telling my Father
he would buy a new pickup truck and never ever once take the key out of the ignition.
He said the hardware store in the small town never locked its doors, If a farmer needed
something desperatly he would go in and take it and the next time he came to town he would
pay for it.
Years ago in my truck I delivered to hundreds of construction sites, almost all the workers
left their keys in the ignition of their trucks in case they needed to be moved.
Dozens of times I got in peoples trucks and moved them so I could make the delivery.
Times have changed.

quote:

Originally posted by Patriot:
I was a trapper…

Walked my line before school, trusty .22 in hand to dispatch muskrats and such.

Yep! Did the same thing carried the trusty Remington 510 single shot.
My older brother and my nephew and I would meet before we went to school to squirrel hunt.
Simple times back then.

Got my first fixed blade knife with S&H green stamps and my first .22 rifle from the Western Auto
store. Our high school had a rifle team which competed against other schools. Bird and rabbit hunting after school was the norm in the fall.

My high school principal sighted in your deer rifles on the football field for $2.50 each. You'd here announcements on the P.A. system "Bill Smith, your rifle is ready."

I remember that the newspapers were full of stories about mass shootings at schools, pretty much another one every day. Well, maybe not so much.

Seriously, one of my strongest memories is how I would leave the house on my bicycle in the summers after breakfast, and not make it home until dinner time having all kinds of adventures without my mom ever worrying about what fate might befall me. Probably get her arrested for allowing that in this day and age.

I have fond memories of those years also. It was almost unheard of for school to be closed because of snow, if you couldn't make it in, you couldn't make it in, no big deal. For those that could, classes were a little more relaxed and if the snow was really bad they might close school early so you could go out and play in the snow. During hunting season taking a gun to school and leaving it in your unlocked car while you were in class was common practice. In my junior and senior years of high school I would trap muskrats during the winter for extra spending money. Joined the Guards my senior year in high school and I remember graduating from H.S. one day and the next day being on a bus for Ft. Leonard Wood. Quite a cultural change in a few short hours.

1964-it was a special year for me. First car, first love, first experience with sex, first heartbreak, and yes, lots of kids with guns in their pick-ups or in their cars. And not one, that I know of, mass shooting.

Bob

Ahhhhhh, the good ole days!

It all began to change around 1990 with the passage of the guns free school act. Guns in students'and teachers'cars and trucks parked at my small rural school were quite common up to that point. No one batted an eye. Things got stupid rather quickly after 1990.

A lot of things changed around that time.
To pick one, the Great Society programs brought in much more government intervention into many parts of society and and daily life along with the mindset that it was somehow needed.
The government nanny state.
The fact it started in 1964 was no coincidence.

I remember leaving my .22 in the mud room of the one room school I went to.
I carried my Ithaca 20ga. Super Single during Pheasent season.
1964 all my buddies and I enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

One of my high school teachers wanted to see my Browning Auto-5 so I took it to school and brought it into his classroom. Guns in the parking lot were common during the hunting season too.

I had an account with Gutfeld Cutlery Company. I sold everything from Bowie knives, Sheffield daggers, martial art supplies, swords etc. I'd pass out the catalog at the start of class and take orders throughout the day. I'd deliver everything but the biggest swords and the like at school too.

We also still had prayer in school despite it being the 1980s.

quote:

1964, a different time in America

And everyone was happy listening to The Beatles on AM radio, and watching The Andy Griffith Show on the black and white TV.