I have the Robert Ruark video where they chronicle one of his trips to Kenya and while watching it again last night I noticed, When they arrived in Nairobi, and walking down the steps, a man gets off the plane with his rifle slung over his shoulder. BOY have times changed.

When I was a kid in Chatsworth, California,(late fifties, early sixties) men used to get on the municipal bus with their uncased shotguns to go to the trap and skeet club.

when we were kids nobody thought anything of a couple of 12 year olds taking their 22/s out on their bikes to shoot gophers. can you imagine that today - they'd call out the swat teams and have a chit hemorage

I used to take my 410 with me to school, and just put it in the corner of the class room.

On the way home I shot birds with it and took them back.

That was in the 1960's.

I took a 6.5 Jap my father brought back from ww2 to shop class ( 8th grade ) to cut down in to a deer rifle -- 1969. no problem Lee

After the surrender, one of my father's jobs was to over see a soldier with a torch who filled a barge with Jap swords that where cut in half then sunk in a harbor.

Oh yea, it dates us eh. I use to walk from my uncles just outside Langhorne Pa to my aunts in Holland (both Phila sub in Bucks Co Pa) about 3 miles with my 22 over my shoulder when I was in my early teens. In ninth grade my buddy and I did a skit in english class about a river boat gambler and a card shark. We used real pistols in the class room (when I shot him it was Bang-bang!) and nobody thought a thing about it. That was the fifties the greatest decade in US history.

Used to cut school in the late 50's, fasten the Stevens-77 12ga. pump to my homemade go-kart and head right on down the main road to fill up for 6 cents at old Joe's "Sinclair" gas station and onward to the local garbage dump to shoot rats all day. The cops would just smile and wave, as did appreciative residents nearby the dump, who would occasionally offer me something to drink and a snack. Life was good.

Times certainly have changed!! On one of my first major big game hunts (to Alaska) in 1971, I carried my 7mm Rem Mag in a soft gun case through O'Hare airport to the departure gate for my NW flight to Anchorage. I was planning on placing it in the on-board closet; but the pilot coming on board with the black box was also a hunter. He chatted with me briefly about hunting, and then offered to take my rifle into the cockpit with him so it wouldn't get knocked around!

Alas a simpler and far more enjoyable era.

Yeah,
We used to take the shotguns to school and leave them in the cars to shoot doves after school. We also traded knives during shop and gym class.That was only 20 years ago too. Now????????????? So much for teaching kids self esteem. They are so pumped up on themselves now that no one can tell them when they are wrong.

And, Nickudu, You did have it "going on"!!!!!!!

Yep: I had to give a speech in eighth grade (circa 1966 or so) and my topic was the diference between a rifle and a shotgun. I took my 1917 Enfield and my 16-gauge Model 12 to school. This was in Tacoma, Wash.

`I worked 31 yrs for American Airlines, where I built rifles in our well appointed machine shop, and worked on custom stocks in down time. When I traveled to a hunting trip, my rifles always went into the cockpit with me sitting in the jump seat.

Farther back when I was a grade school kid, I lived with my grandfather on his ranch a few years durring WWII, and took my rifle to school with me on the school buss. It stood in the corner till school let out, at which time I walked the woods of the hills back home hunting meat to feed four families liveing on the ranch while all the men were fighting a war.

YEH, I'd say times have changed, and not for the better, I might add!

High school even as late as 1980... I brought a Stevens .22LR to show what a falling block rifle looked like (John Brown at Harpers Ferry). No problem. Same year in some artsy fartsy drama class, we used cans of beer in place of handguns to act out the Russian roulette scenario from The Deer Hunter -- shake up one can out of a six pack and open 'em one by one next to your head

I sometimes brought a 12 gauge shotgun in a soft case with me to high school about 20 years ago, as I would go directly to shoot some trap in the afternoon. It would lay on the floor next to me throughout the day during classes, and no one really cared. Sometimes I did the same with a 30-06 when moose season was getting closer. I doubt that would be allowed in my capitols schools today.

When I started hunting back in 67' or so, there was 3 or 4 of us that hunted together. We would have our shotguns and shells in one of our vehicles, ansd as soon as football practice was over we were gone dove hunting. I can remember a few years before that, the principal of the school there in Newcastle (Tx.), had to have a talk with all us high school boys, about playing Mumbly-Peg with our pocket knives at recess.

In 1971 I flew from the University of Montana to Billings, Montana to hunt antelope with my father and friends. I carried on my rifle on the Northwest plane and the flight attendants were worried if it was loaded which it was not and all of the men wanted to know where I was going hunting.

In 1974 I took the ferry from Whittier, Alaska to Valdez and hitched hike to Mccarthy, Alaska to go Mountain Goat hunting. My rifle was in a hard case. When I got off of the ferry several older women wanted to know what exortic musical instrument was in the case. I said "that is my rifle and I am going Mountain Goat hunting" They looked at me and one shook her finger and said that I should not be killing animals. Those were the good years in Alaska, no new national parks, few people and no guide for goats.

In the late 50s-early 60s I had a 1949 Willis Jeep. I kept the windshield down and no one paid attention to a teenager headed for our section of land south of Odessa with Model 63 Winchester .22 rifle or Model 12 shotgun hanging in the gun rack.

Damn, I miss rabbit hunting in West Texas!

Yes, I remember doing many of the same things as stated here. Carrying a shotgun to school in the car or truck and hunting ducks, geese, doves or pheasants right after school. Riding with one of my friends in his jeep with the windshield down and guns displayed and unloaded, but at the ready while we drove to the hunting area. Having a gun rack in the truck that usually contained at least a .22 rifle, a hunting rifle and a shotgun. (Was a status symbol of sorts in our town) Walking up the street to the orchards near our home to hunt quail and pheasants and waiving at the local police officer as he drove by. . . .Those days are gone for sure.

Hell, last year in school(my 10th grade year) I forgot I had a little pocket knife(3" blade) clipped on my pocket from the night before. My auto-mechanics teacher saw it. Next thing I know I have 2 administrators hauling me out of class. I was met by and police officer in the office. If it wasn't for my mom who works for 911 and heard the call, they would have arrested me.

Hell I was on the school rifle team for 3 years. We practied in the basement of the school where a beautiful rifle range was built.There were 6 other school districts with teams that we competed with. each had a nice rifle range indoors. That was 1970-73.

Knives. Hadn't even thought of that. Can you imagine being suspended for having your Boy Scout knife in your pocket. Our Brave New World: Be prepared -- to be a victim.

Kept my rifle and shotgun in my dorm room 1970-72...Had one of my friends shot by a shotgun in school in late 70's early 80's...Thank goodness for old school and American oak door frames...Saved his life....But I still see deer hunters walking down the street with rifles early morning and evening...

Mike

its really gonna suck in 25 more years,

If we last another 25 years.

Maybe there's still a LITTLE sense out there . . .

I once worked in a high school that's not far from one of the Texas big cities. A few years ago the parking lot security guy got the campus police officer and told him that he could see the butt of a rifle from behind a pickup seat in the student parking lot. The officer went to look and recognized the truck as belonging to an avid deer hunting student (18 years old). He also noted that it was the Monday after the opening weekend of deer season.

The officer discreetly pulled him out of class and took him to the parking lot. He admitted having the unloaded rifle and, as the officer expected, had been deer hunting the previous weekend. Here's the sad part . . . he said that he kept the rifle in his truck because his dad was a convicted felon and he knew he couldn't keep the gun at home where his dad was!!! The officer made a phone call to a friend who agreed to store the rifle for him, sent him off campus to drop the rifle off, and gave him a hall pass to return to class when he returned.

Here's the amazing part . . . that kid has not threatened or shot ANYONE with that gun to this day!! Unbelievable!

JDS

In High school(1970).Used to walk down the main
hall with a 22.On the way to the schools indoor
range,Thats long gone and the 22s have been at the police station for the last 30 years

Yep! Sadly, times have changed, and I am afraid not for the better!

I arrived in Houston International airport in Houston in 1982 without a visa!

The immigration officer was kind enough to charge me $15 for a month's visa, with instructions to go to the immigration department within that time and get my temporary residence.

In 1993, I went hunting to Zimbabwe. I sent my rifles, 2 and one shotgun ahead of me.

In that shipment were several cases of shotgun ammo, and one case - 5000 - of 22 ammo. And several boxes of cast bullets.

When I arrived at Vic Falls airport, I could see my boxes piled against a wall. They did not have any place in the small store to put them there. They were right in the open, people were going in and out of the airport feet from them.

The customs lady did not want to know about anything except check the serial number of the rifles and shotguns.

On the way out, I left the shotgun for my PH. We went together to the custom office, they stamped the paper, gave it back to him, I got on the plane and flew back home.

Times have changed because of terrorists who like to target airplanes and because of stupid government reactions to them.

And because of kids who like to shoot up high schools and because of stupid government reactions to them.

And on and on and on . . .

Nothing ever gets better, or so it seems.

A lack of respect for life or for the rights of others and their property, the disintegration of the family, unchecked and pervasive violence in the entertainment media (movies, music, tv, etc.), a failed judicial system, and the attitude that right is now wrong and wrong is now right.

Where did it start? Maybe with things like no corporal punishment in schools. It now progresses with things like no tag games during recess. The control of the ruling classes reach deeper into our lives daily, little by little by little seemingly with out notice.

DOJ,

I believe you are right!

Even back in the fifties it was already noticeable! Read Robert Anson Heilein’s “Starship Troopersâ€!

B.Martins

I remember being in college in the 80's and our house was better armed then most police stations. Shotguns, bows, knives, and more ammo then many 3rd world armies. We all hunted about 20 minutes from the college on a buddies farm. We had geese, ducks, rabbits, and deer at the house and fondly remember cooking deer over a cut 55 gallon drum with friends.

I laugh everytime when I think about getting a call on a sunday morning from the Deans's office asking us kindly to remove the 8 point buck hanging from the tree in the backyard since it was parents weekend.

I was allowed to mount a scope on the first big game rifle I ever owned during wood shop. This would have been around '73-'74. I now have 2 kids in elementary and 1 in middle school and the PC BS that goes on nowadays really gets me PO'd sometimes. You have to be on your toes and watch for those teachers and others that will try to push their own anti-gun or anti-hunting agenda. I've caught a few at it and let them know what I thought.

One thing we still have going for us here in Pa is in most of the state the first day of buck season is a holiday in the public school system!

Circa 1972-75, the high school principal would pull my brother from class in the afternoon because he had the best duck spot on the river. My homeroom teacher wanted me to store my Anschutz in his closet so he was sure no one would mess with it!

I once did an abreviated program at a predominately black high school ( and community college on gun safety etc. (I am white) I took enough gus to arm a small gang. No problem then, but it would create problems today.

H Kittle

I bought one of my first guns from one of my teachers. Bet they wouldn't do that today.

I think it started when people started giving up just a little of their freedom for just a little security. That's been going on as long as I've been alive and now I have less freedom and less security...what went wrong?

I say lets do away with all airport security, stop treating all passengers like ciminals and let me take care of my own security.

1968 I and fellow 8th grade classmates belonged to a school sponsored "Hunting & Outdoorsman" activity class. We routinely brought our rifles to school via the yellow school bus, mounted scopes, compared ballistics,etc.
Here's the best part. The school vice principal owned a farm and would invite members of the club and their family to hunt there weekends. If a student wanted to come but had no family memeber to bring them the VP would pick them up and act as their guardian for the day. Each year we had a field trip to that farm sponsored by the school for hunting. We would bring our shotguns to school on the bus while wearing canvas hunting clothes. Then keep them in the teacher's closet until a bus was free to take us to the farm for 1/2 day of hunting.
Just imagine trying to get a School Board to ok that item on their adgenda now!
Today the VP though elderly lives near my home. I often stop and share my venison,ducks,etc with him. He still gets a glint in his eyes when the conversation turns to those old bygone field trips he arranged.
His name is John Bensing and I admire him to this day.

Hell I was the teacher's assistant in a high school gunsmithing class in the 80s in California. We used to bring rifles on the school bus and carry them around to classes until our 4th period shop class.

quote:

Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
I bought one of my first guns from one of my teachers. Bet they wouldn't do that today.

I think it started when people started giving up just a little of their freedom for just a little security. That's been going on as long as I've been alive and now I have less freedom and less security...what went wrong?

I say lets do away with all airport security, stop treating all passengers like ciminals and let me take care of my own security.

I agree. When I was in high school there would be 75 pick-up's in the lot and all had a 30-30
or something in the rack. NONE were locked and
no one cared, no one got shot or even upset.
The last time I took a plane my wife was treated
like she was on the 10 most wanted list. Bullshit!!!! Unless we have to fly we won't.
We have given up too much and gotten little in return.

boy this brings back a flood of memories. when i was in 8th and 9th grade shop ('73 '74) our 1st project on the lathe was a black jack.....every body made one and nobody got conked on the head. one of our 9th grad projects and my favorit was to make a gun rack with your choice of a couple of patterns. as a side note on corporal punishment....on the few days in shop where we had book work if the teacher saw anyone talking or not paying attention he wouldnt say a word, but a chalk board eraser would go flying across the room with deadly accuracy and bounce off the offender's noggin. try that today and see what happens.