Just throwing this out.

[Tenbender]

I know some of you younger guys will not believe this could of happened. Thinking back on it I wonder why I was allowed in the first place.
I would take my 16 ga. Western Field to school with me sometimes. I had a 20+ mile school bus ride and on the way home I would get off the bus a mile or more from home and squirrel hunt . The dangerous shotgun never killed anyone, that I know about.
Times have changed a lot. Thinking back on it I doubt it was too smart even then. I guess people respected guns and knew the danger. We never had tv shows that had people killed today and be on another show tomorrow. .
Sorry if this post is out of place. It is not about CB hunting. Just thought some of the younger folks might of never had the liberty with there hobby like us old guys did and enjoy it. :D

[fishhawk]

Had a .22 in my locker in high school was on a school rifle team no one was in a panic about it either.

[Motor]

When I was in tool and die making school (1980) my instructor let me make a trigger for my brother's Ruger Bear Cat revolver as a project. He even heat treated it. I never took the cylinder to school with me but naturally had to have the rest of the pistol there to do the final fitting.

Imagine that !!! Taking a hand gun to trade school.

On another occasion in public speaking class I did a gun cleaning demonstration and another class mate did a reloading demonstration.

This was at the same school (technical college) and same era.

Motor

[jcren]

In HS we frequently had rifles in back glass gun racks during deer season. A lot of us would hunt first hour then go straight to school, gun, deer(if lucky) and all.

[Beagle333]

Nearly everybody in my HS had a rifle/shotgun in a rack in the back glass out in the school parking lot. It was very common to go straight to the "squirrel woods" after school and try to bag a few.

[GoodOlBoy]

Had a old single shot shotgun in my truck in high school. Never had a problem. Carried a huntin knife on my belt all during season. Never had a problem with that either.

GoodOlBoy

[bangerjim]

Coming from the Midwest and small towns, I grew up around guns and everybody had them, knew how to handle and shoot them. No one that I know of ever was killed by a wild gun running loose on the town square!!!!! I remember, when I was 6 or 7, watching my neighbor reload shells and rifle carts in his front porch loading shop. Most people had gun racks with rifles in the back window of their pickups.....and never locked the doors! Stealing a man's gun was akin to stealing a man's horse back in the olden daze.

Yes times have definitely changed..............for the worse in many cases.

[white eagle]

when I was cutting my hunting teeth
me and my friends would ride the city buses to the outskirts of town
with our shot guns and hunt small game on the way back home
try and do that now and swat would surround the bus

[Beagle333]

When we were kids, we had men around to tell us "This is a gun and this is how you handle it and this is what you point it at." and "This is a knife and this is how you handle it and this is....."
And kids nowadays don't have that. And the lessons didn't just stop with guns and knives, they were given for opening doors for people and using doors that were already open, and who's next in line, and catching foul balls, and who can use the handicapped parking and......

[Muskyhunter1]

In HS I had a beagle and my buddy used to bring his Ithaca 37 Sweet 16 pump to school in his locker, so he could come hunt at my place after school.

I remember cutting off a shotgun barrel in machine shop and the teacher helping me set up to drill and tap for a new bead. I built a small 30 cal canon in shop and still have it (got to fire it someday lol). I even remember our shop teacher bringing an old double hammer S/S 12 gau. to class to show us. We just never thought of shooting people.

If you and I had a problem we would deal with it AFTER school. One of us would drag our butts home and that was the end of it.

[timspawn]

I have a customer, born in 1933. He used to ride the bus or train or whatever they call it in NYC with rifle when he was a kid. They had rifle teams at school.

[jhalcott]

this thread brings back some fond memories of high school and sadness for what we've lost!

[roverboy]

I can't remember having guns at school but, several guys that I worked with around 1990 would bring guns to work and show them off. Nothing was ever said about it.

[tsubaki]

Granted it was the late "70's but from August till March every pickup in the parking lot at school had a shotgun hanging in the back glass and most every male student had a knife of some sort in his pants pocket.
Fights would break out regularly but it was taboo to even think about using any other weapon than your fists. And you didn't kick, bite, etc or you'd be branded a little girl.
Takin' a butt beating was no big deal compared to showing bad form.

Oh, I forgot about the awards given in the 11th grade for selling the most stuff to raise money for the FFA.
First and Second place was a Marlin 30/30, Third and Fourth place was an 8" Schrade knife. I've since forgot the rest but just before lunch the awards were given out.
Well the ones of us that won the firearms and knifes were called back to shop class to leave our winnings there till after school.
Yes we were walking the halls (with approval) with rifles and Bowie type knifes.

This is in no was to infer that my school was lax.
There was a strict no smoking policy for those less than 16 years of age. You needed a note from your parents if you were under 16 in order to smoke and it had to be done within the canopy of the "smoking tree".

[mold maker]

Mom would give me 3 eggs to trade at the grocery for 4 shotgun shells. School was on the other side of town so shells and gun in hand i went to school.
Afterwards I took the shells and gun I had left with the principal all day, and go to the fields, of a farm beyond school. The 3-4 rabbits or squirrels went a lot further toward feeding the family than 3 eggs.
It was simple economics for us, and others did the same.

[Wolfer]

It was the same for me. Guns in the back glass of most trucks. Every boy and probably most of the girls carried a pocket knife.
We built muzzleloader rifles and pistols in shop class. The kits could be purchased through the school at a discount. We also built some smooth sided boolit molds.
I couldn't afford a gun so I built a crossbow for my project.

The town ( Winona ) still lets school out for the first week of deer season. It's a national holiday ya know.

I also recall a lot of fighting roosters on the buses and in the lockers. Caused a lot of laughter when those roosters would get to crowing at each other during class.

[Love Life]

School shootings ruined it all. Up until the Columbine shooting, it was common to see guns in racks of trucks in the school parking lot of Lampasas High School. The female teachers would often ask us the students if anybody had a pocket knife they could use.

Then in WWCHS in the early 2000's, if a gun was spotted in a car, the parent had to come pick it up. Nobody freaked out, and we still had pocket knives at school.

[Walla2]

In the early 60's I asked for and was given permission by my Jr. High School to bring my great grandfather's Colt 1851 to school for a show and tell. Every student in the class handled the gun while I gave a short story about my ancestor. No muss no fuss. My things have changed.

[iron mule]

i would bring my shotgun and a box of shells to school on the bus and then take them to the math classroom where the teacher kept them for an afternoon quail hunt with him
the only problem i had was other kids wanting to tag along with us
mule

[Hannibal]

School shootings, workplace shootings, theater shootings. Yeah, it's a different country now.

[44man]

Liberals, what can I say. I also grew up and lived in Cleveland, Ohio but could buy a rifle at the gun shop when 16. Had a lot of gun shops I hung out at.
Freedom is now gone. Life was wonderful and no problem hunting before or after school. I was 18 when I bought my Blackhawk through the mail in 1956. $96. I had revolvers when 16.
We were self taught and responsible. The worst thing we did was to steal a ripe tomato from a neighbors garden but they were soooo good.
Culture has changed with hatred and the gimme so I don't need to work junk. I will steal what I want and if my religion is different I will kill you. Blacks long ago worked but now they want all for nothing because or the race baiters. Sharpton, etc.

[Friends call me Pac]

Mid 80's. I would bring my 30.30 and cartridges to school on the bus. At school my FFA teacher would hold my rifle and ammo until end of school day. When school was over he would give it back to me and I would get on a bus going to my friend's house so we could go deer hunting. Never a hiccup or complaint.

[BAGTIC]

I can't remember exactly when I started carrying a knife to school but I know for certain is was by the third grade when I was eight.

[jhalcott]

ALL this LOSS of freedom is OUR fault! WE are the ones who elected these a/,H932s To tell US what to do. WE then REelected most of them. I ,for one , am very carefull to check the nominee before I vote.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Soooo good to remember and soooo sad where we have come to!

In the mid 50s, I attended what I believe was the first NRA Hunter Safety class given in Salem, Oregon.

The class was held in Leslie Jr. High school, in a math class and taught by the teacher. Mr. Lee as I recall. Yes, he left an impression.

A few years later, the family moved to Eastern Oregon and each of the kids was allowed one excused absents from school for deer hunting. That was in Dayville, Oregon. You can look it up on the net.

Part of the problem these days is the fact that many folk refuse to take responsibility for their actions. Poor parenting for the last 3 - 4 generations.

And here we sit, putting good money after bad to support and keep alive the shooter from AZ, the Boston bomber, the theater shooter that left a huge amount of carnage, alive and dead behind him. All these and lots more are NOT "alleged"! There are way more then enough eye witnesses to their guilt. Why are they still drawing breath and using up our tax money. BE done with them, NOW!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[jakharath]

Graduated high school in 1990. We were not supposed to have chewing gum, pocket knives or firearms in our vehicles. Always had a pocket knife. Had two teachers that would borrow mine. Always had a shotgun in the car. Seem to remember a student getting called to the office because he had empty shotgun shells in his vehicle and the drug dog found them. This was in rural Texas. Can't imagine what it's like now.

Oh lordy-jeezus! He had spent shotgun shells in his truck!!! Arrest him!!!

[TXGunNut]

I shoot with a high school kid, he's even on a school shooting team. He has to be very careful that no spent shells of any kind are in his truck when he goes to school.

[robg]

in the 60s at school we all had sheath knives no one tried to stab anybody with them.but I suppose we were in a rural area.at home had air rifles etc .no one worried when we went to the woods after pigeons ,now police would be there in seconds .

[quickdraw66]

When I was in high school not too long ago, it was school policy that pocket knives were not allowed. Some of the upper class teachers ignored this rule, as did most students. I remember one day, our English teacher needed a knife and about 15-20 hands holding knives went up. :D

The joys of going to a small town school in Texas. ;)

[smokeywolf]

In the early '60s I could and did ride all over town with my Winchester 22 pump in a scabbard across the handle bars of my bicycle. In the mid '60s I carried a folding Case skinning knife all the time; including to Jr. high school. There was never a problem, never an issue or incident.

It seems like we were more grown up then, than children are today.

I think what's made the most difference is too little parenting and too much liberal media. I think much, if not most of the school, work place and other public mass shootings are motivated by a desire by the perpetrator to become famous or infamous and go down in history. When the media puts them on the front page for two and three weeks or longer, the perps are getting what they want.

How do you fix the lack of full time parenting at home? Start with a major public service campaign admonishing couples that if husband or wife can't afford to stay home and raise the children, then you should seriously consider waiting to have children until you can.

[Edward]

Not possible ,that would be responsible (afraid those days are over) prime example are my own kids !

[mozeppa]

shot 4 years on the rifle team , was captain of the team.

we had shooting matches every friday night ....when done the commandant would drop me off home with 5 rifles ,ammo in a large carry bag.
every monday morning i walked to school 7 blocks with 5 rifles , ammo (and a 38 they didn't know about)

we had a racially charged atmosphere at our school as it was 1969 through 1973....yet every one KNEW to leave me alone lest they bit.

[HABCAN]

Ottawa, Canada, 1947. 14, working part-time as gofer for a gunshop, selling the owner's patented (Little's) 2x and 4x scope sights, surplus rifles, etc., and installing 2 kinds of Poly-Chokes, plain and 'ventilated'. The shop's gunsmith of choice was across town. Three or four rifles/shotguns slung, maybe a pistol or two stuck in my belt, I'd ride the Bank Street streetcar back and forth........no problems, but one day the boss got a call from his bank manager: would he please tell the kid to make the drop-offs at the gunsmith BEFORE making the shop's bank deposit?? Some customers were 'startled'. And taking guns to school.......we had lockers full of the common ones and teachers kept valuable pieces for us in their desks or classroom cupboards!! It WAS a different World........Gone with the Wind. The school indoor rifle range was built right alongside the swimming pool........we had a winning team.

[wch]

I field stripped a Colt 1911 in a "demonstration" speech-, in college, no less!

[Red River Rick]

Manitoba, Canada, 1976 - 81: Father-in-law drove rural school bus with about 20 kids on the route. He always carried a rifle on the bus and would shoot coyotes out of the bus with the kids on board. They would actually point them out. Elk as well, don't know how many he got but it was a few. I know, I had to go process them.

The rifle (Win 88 /.284 Win) was behind the seat, standing up, all the time. It never left the bus.

A few of the boys used to bring their .22's along, getting off the bus somewhere along the route to shoot gophers or beavers on the river in spring time.

No one complained, got hurt or injured. That's the way it was back then.

The world has changed.............

RRR

[Digital Dan]

Long time back I went to work with a minigun. Times have changed.

By by the time I retired all I could tote was a 77/44.

[mart]

We had a rifle team in the basement of our school and I shot on it all through high school. My uncle was the maintenance supervisor for our school and would have me come up on the weekends when no one was using the ball fields to shoot woodchucks. Our school was a couple miles out of town and backed up against the back of a large farm. Never a shortage of chucks and they loved digging in the soccer and baseball field. School administrators today would have a stroke over letting a 15 year old kid come on the grounds with a rifle.

[mac266]

I'm only 38 and all my high school teachers knew I had guns in my trunk. I never brought them into school. I was a competitive shooter and drove out to our Isaac Walton club to practice at least twice a week, if not more. Guess what? Never a problem.

[taco650]

I grew up in the 70's in OR. My friends and I all carried pocket knives to school and every time one of got a new one you could be sure we were showing it around at recess. My little community was a way stop on the Oregon Trail and every year at school there was a history week thing for it. The math teacher would wear his buckskin clothes to school and shoot off his Kentucky rifle off into the woods as demonstration point after showing how to load and prime it. Our Jr. High had rifle range in the basement that was used for hunter's safety classes.

[Cleve Branch]

I went to High School in the early 80's. Took a Smith and Wesson snub nose for a demonstration speech. We always had guns in pickups to hunt after school.
And even to this day in a town about 50 miles from here every March there is a gun show in a elementary school gymnasium. I have been to probly 10 of them maybe more and Nobody has been shot yet.
Cleve

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Yep Cleve, Potlatch still has a gun show in their school every year. Maybe that is the one you refer to, but figured potluck was a bit more then 50 miles from you.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[jroc]

Ya lets face it most of us grew up in the end of the good ole days. A friend of mine and myself run a trapline when we were youngins - started trapping about 12 years old. We alwats had a single shot Stevens 53b with us and a pocket full of 22 shorts. When we were done runnig the trapline we cut back through town headed home with the 22 over our shoulders, ammo in our pocket and a sachel of rats over our shoulder.
As I got older I always had an Ithaca shotgun hanging in the back of my 4wd 63 Chevy pickup in the school parking lot, along with probably 8 or 10 other vehicles. Same thing in the teachers parking lot. I really feel sorry for the youth of today not being able to experience what to me is an important part of our heritage. jroc

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Well said Jroc!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[smokeywolf]

Dad had a rifle rack in the back window of the '54 GMC pickup. Here in SoCal that all by itself, without a rifle in it and of course unofficially, might earn you a traffic stop today.

[UBER7MM]

Dad had a rifle rack in the back window of the '54 GMC pickup. Here in SoCal that all by itself, without a rifle in it and of course unofficially, might earn you a traffic stop today.

Today, back window gun racks are used for hanging 4ft levels, a tube for building plans and sometimes a fishing pole.

[starmac]

I bought all my relaods for my shotgun at school, from one of my freshman teachers.
I also cut off two shotguns in the school shop, everyone carried a pocket knife, and many of us kept a rifle or shotgun in the car or pickup,once we were allowed to drive.
I even successfully hitchhiked home one night with a shotgun, try that these days. lol

It has been my understanding that there has been mass shootings or killings (even at schools) forever, but they were enot sensationalized the way they are these days.

[GaryN]

My buddy's dad used to board an airplane with a scoped rifle. He would just hand it to the stewardess and she would put it in the closet by the door. When he left, she would hand it back.

[725]

Coming back from London around 1970, I had a Wilkenson sword in my carry on. Gave it to the stewardess and nobody thought a thing about it. Walking through the airport with the sword didn't turn one head. Further in the late 50's, I ran around the village with an Arisaka bring back (minus the safety / firing pin) playing soldier and nobody even stopped to ask any questions. We'd build "forts" in the public park, played cops & robbers / soldier / cowboys & Indians and if any adult even noticed, they would just smile and expect us to be home when the street lights came on. Of the idiot kids I ran with, nobody was maladjusted or needed mood altering maintenance drugs to get by.

[badbob454]

its been so long i forgot about truck rifle racks , first they outlawed loaded rifles now in kalifornia the ammo and guns must be kept separate and each individually locked .. Glad im out , and happily living in nevada . I can carry loaded gun in vehicle in plain sight , or concealed with an easy to aquire concealed carry , oh yes criminals know anyone may be armed so don't dare give you problems ...

[utahtrapper]

Oh yes had Olive green Dodge with a slant 6 oil bath air cleaner.
1 shotgun and a 22lr in the back window. After football practice would make it home with Grouse, quail, and usually a couple pheasants to clean before chores.
Wish i could do that today just dont get back to Nebraska as much as i would like

[Point-Man]

As stated in all the post above, those were the good old days. On TV the people that got shot never died. There was always a moral to the story. There was no profanity .

[Mytmousemalibu]

I was on the heels, heels of it all only because I went to a small rural High School in the thick of hunters paradise. I'm still ticked I didn't get to do what was the norm for most of you all. I knew thats how it was and pissed I missed it. Really sad we didn't have rifle club. I've always thought I was born too late! Anyways, it was pretty common to see gun racks in the trucks in our parking lot. Come deer season, there was a sharp rise in absentee's that week! Everyone knew who's vehicles had guns in them. Pretty common. It was normal to see horse trailers in the lot too. Columbine put an end to it all.

[smokeywolf]

In the early to mid '60s the community just over the hill from us (about 7 miles) was largely agricultural; orchards and row crops. A few of the kids in that community (I knew a couple), during good weather, were still riding their horses to school.
Livestock barn has since been replaced by a bus barn. I often feel like a walking anachronism.

[Indiana shooter]

:evil:When I was in high school (class of 03) I would use my backpack as a range bag on the weekends when I'd go to my grandpa's farm. On one occasion I had a box of spent 30-06 brass open up inside the backpack. I didn't realize it until the next morning when I was cleaning it out for school. I didn't count the brass but assumed I got all of them. During my second class I pulled out one of my books and guess what was stuck in it, yup a harmless piece of brass that got me in deep &#$!. I was pulled from class and expelled for something less dangerous than what the kid beside me was writing with. They said it was terroristic threatening, WHAT

Fortunately my Mom worked for the local government and got a judge to overrule the schools decision. I was back to school within a month. That whole situation was BS..... well I can go on for days about this but I feel that there's no need to preach to the choir right.

[smokeywolf]

:evil:When I was in high school (class of 03) I would use my backpack as a range bag on the weekends when I'd go to my grandpa's farm. On one occasion I had a box of spent 30-06 brass open up inside the backpack. I didn't realize it until the next morning when I was cleaning it out for school. I didn't count the brass but assumed I got all of them. During my second class I pulled out one of my books and guess what was stuck in it, yup a harmless piece of brass that got me in deep &#$!. I was pulled from class and expelled for something less dangerous than what the kid beside me was writing with. They said it was terroristic threatening, WHAT

Fortunately my Mom worked for the local government and got a judge to overrule the schools decision. I was back to school within a month. That whole situation was BS..... well I can go on for days about this but I feel that there's no need to preach to the quier right.

Better watch your phraseology there. That is, unless you mean "choir".

[Werndl]

My primary Doc said he used to ride public transportation in NYC (cant remember if it was subway or not so I wont specify), with his .22lr standing between his leg. I don't have near the years but back when I was in college in vt in '92, I kept my .22lr and 12ga in my room and as a member of the outdoors club(no fee by the way), I was entitled to a box of 12ga pheasant loads and a box of .22lr per day!! Wish I had stocked up on more but pretty sure I shot most of it! hahA

[Indiana shooter]

Better watch your phraseology there. That is, unless you mean*"choir"

Sure did, spelling never was my strong suit. You know I typed it and never gave it a second look, thanks for catching that.

[kaptain kartridge]

When I was a kid, my father would stop the car on Cayuga Rd, and we would get out to watch the airplanes take off at the end of the runway. Today, you stop there, and in about 30 seconds is a Transit Authroity Cop, with his hand on his glock, asking "What are you doing here, *******?"

[dmitch]

I still live in the county where I was born, raised and graduated from High School .... a county in Upstate New York known for being THE county with the highest deer take, year after year. Heavy agriculture with lots of deer and woodchucks..... ah, the woodchucks were everywhere. Lots of shooting.......3 of my older friends had over 250 chucks EACH in '63 or '64, the winner that year had 364 chucks ....me? only 152 because I couldn't drive yet and was using a Mossberg K640 in 22 Magnum. We had no rifle team, but so many of us enjoyed hunting and shooting.
It was accepted to the extent that my High School yearbook featured a picture of a couple of us with our firearms (shouldered, no trigger locks or such nonsense) in the Hobbies section. School property; deadly weapons; smiles on our faces; no evil intent; no liberal panic. Imagine!
Well, things certainly have changed in New York State. Some good, some very bad. Turkeys moved in late '66 or '67 (good); coyotes moved in mid '90s (mostly bad); the woodchucks have declined in a big way since (bad); bears have harassed us for maybe 10 years now (mostly bad) and every year or so, someone claims they have glimpsed a cougar (bad)....... but the biggest change was the ultimate act of tyranny when NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo rammed the NY SAFE Act through the Assembly and Senate in Jan. 2013, halting ALL purchases of "assault rifles". You or your estate presently have three options ..... 1.) sell it out of state or to a dealer who will sell in another state where the AR mysteriously becomes a "safe and responsible" weapon 2.) register the AR with the State Police, maybe they will let you keep it until you die, then # 1 kicks in (side note: it appears that less than 5% of all AR owners have registered their weapons) or 3.) prove that you destroyed it.
Yes, things have changed in the last 50 years, what with the lack of common sense, insane political correctness, burning liberalism and fear of the ordinary citizen. The "road to recovery" will probably be a long one similar to the road our Canadian friends experienced with the demise of their long gun registry. Lord, give me strength!

[Anschutz]

I graduated high school in 10 and my brother in 12. We lived outside of Atlanta in Sharpsburg. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Atlanta and about 20 to get to nowhere but the principal at our school was a super libertard. Like the demilled drill M1 Garands the JROTC had scared her. I shot a deer while I was on winter break with my dad's rifle and didn't find it immediately so I went back out with a flashlight and his Colt Detective Special .38. I gave up tracking until my dad got home but since it would be quicker for my mom to drive to the back of the area being cleared for development than for me to walk all the way back home, she came and picked me up, I put the Colt in the center console and we went home. Dad got home and I grabbed my .243 (Handi Rifle open sights) and went back out there with him. He had is Beretta .45 and after we found the deer and got it cleaned and hung in the outside fridge I was ready to shower and hit the sack. Got up the next morning and got to thinking "Where's Dad's .38?" Then it hit me. I never took it out and my brother had driven to school. Talk about a snatch and grab. That Principal would have seen us both hang.

When I was very young (4-5) my dad took a sprite can and put red Kool-Aid in it. He took me out on the back deck with his Browning BL .22 and said "this is a gun, one day I'll get you one but for now don't touch them if I'm not with you, understand?" I was quick with the "Yes, sir". He shot the can and the red Kool-Aid went everywhere. He said even this little thing can hurt you really bad if you play with it. Then I watched Eddy Eagle tell me what to do if I found a gun. That's what America needs, a bunch of Kindergartners walking the halls singing "STOP, don't touch, leave the area, tell and adult" (And I haven't seen those videos since at least 18 years ago) and less parents buying all of these games where you are awarded points for killing more people with headshots. I'm all for violent video games and think they are fun, but not until an age where they know the difference. Before I bought my first battle game my Dad had a talk with me about how that's not how real life is and I knew that the Germans were bad guys and you only shoot the bad guys. /Rant