Growing Up With Guns....

[Everyday Hunter]

Here's what might be one of my better scribbles, and I share it with the my DDH friends: Growing Up With Guns.

I think all of us who watched the "good guys" enforce the law on 1950s and 1960s television know they had a positive influence on us. It seems undeniable that the violence and carnage kids are exposed to today doesn't have a negative influence. With all the talk -- much of it ignorant about what makes guns dangerous -- I thought I'd add my childhood experience with guns to the mix. Many will identify with what I have to say.

And many will agree that when we were kids we were taught about gun safety, we had a healthy respect for guns, we understood their proper use was in the hands of the good guys, and we were taught a moral code that was the best gun control the nation and the world has ever seen. Gun opponents deny that the violence and the carnage kids are exposed to today has any effect on them. they say "Studies are inconclusive." How can kids not be negatively influenced by the kind of violence and misuse of guns they see today, when so many of us were positively influenced a generation ago by the way we saw guns used then?

Click here: Growing Up With Guns. Unless you're a spring chicken, I'm betting there's something here you can identify with.

Steve.

[Ohio farms]

Enjoyed your article. I too grew up around guns and was taught to handle and respect them by my Uncle whose family lived upstairs in our duplex. If my brother or I would inadvertently point our toy guns in anyone's direction, there was a stern lecture on it's way.
We probably will never get back to the "Lone Ranger " days, but we are fortunate to have remembered them.

[Woods Walker]

Great read EDH! As a fellow "dinosaur" I can relate! I had similar experiences growing up as you may well guess.

For me, the biggest contrasting experience that I had was that my high school....and this was in suburban NEW JERSEY of all places...had a RIFLE CLUB, and we'd meet once or twice a month and go shooting at a local range under the guidance of a teacher/advisor. For those of us who could not go home first to get our rifles (.22's), we could BRING THEM TO SCHOOL and keep them in the vice principal's office until we went shooting. If you proposed something like that today they'd have you committed and/or arrested with a SWAT team putting the school in lockdown!

I went to college at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. At that time Wyoming was not a concealed carry state, but an OPEN carry state. I ran a trapline and would strap my Ruger Super Single Six to my hip and drive out to run my line. That was quite a jump for a kid from New Jersey! Then, as now, most everyone was armed in some fashion or another. Laramie was a college town and the largest town in the county and had 22 or the 25 full liquor licenses that the county issued. Now with that many bars and armed people you'd think that Saturday night would have been akin to the gunfight scene at the OK Corral......wrong.....

I will admit here and now, that yes, I sometimes went into the bars in Laramie. Shocking I know, but I had to get that out. Now in all that time there was NEVER, EVER a shooting. Fistfights? Now that's another story. But I think it just may harken back to what you said in your article. Whatever it is SOMETHING has changed. Thanks for sharing!

[kellory]

I grew up with guns as well. Helped clean them at 8 or 9, carried a gun shaped stick at 12, and a real shotgun/rifle at 13. And hunting is and was a shared family experience. i grew up with the idea that guns were tools for good men and bad. Not that guns were good or bad.
We grew up with many role models, first of all our parents, our families, our friends, and lastly media of papers or TV. Funny though, you would pick the "lone Ranger" as a moral role model. He fought for justice and the rule of law, truly, yet he rode with a mask like a bandit (as if being the law needed to be hidden) and throughout the entire show, he called his sidekick fool or stupid (that is what Tonto means) http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... osabe-mean

I think Paul Kersie of Deathwish made a larger impression on the culture of guns. From the victim's point of view. From the standpoint of self defense, and using guns for good, though he is afraid of the dark side of guns He is afraid of enjoying the killing of vermin.
Then we get to Clint Eastwood, and Dirty Harry " This is a .357Magnum, if used properly, it will REMOVE the fingerprints!" Showing that the bigger the gun, the more dangerous the man. (false) Brains make a man dangerous, guns are just tools.
We keep seeing bigger and more impressive guns through movies, the dessert Eagle carried by Schwarzenegger, the remote controlled automatic rifle used by Carlos the Jackal, We see this again in Men in Black " the Cricket? are you kidding me? Give me a real gun, like that one you got!"
Again we see, the bigger and cooler the gun, the more impressive the man. The more likely he will be taken seriously, the more dangerous he becomes.
You see a movie poster of a man with a pistol, you think storyline, and daring do, spy craft, and hand to hand fighting, You see a man with a machinegun, draped if bullet belts and you know he's going to war. On a battle field, or an inner city is the only question.
It takes a parent's guiding hand to teach the proper use and handling of any gun. To teach the boy to be a man, and what kind of man to be. Without that guidance, they will take their cue from Hollywood, because it's what they see.

Teach them to be good men, and guns are just tools of good men.

[Woods Walker]

"It takes a parent's guiding hand to teach the proper use and handling of any gun. To teach the boy to be a man, and what kind of man to be. Without that guidance, they will take their cue from Hollywood, because it's what they see.

Teach them to be good men, and guns are just tools of good men."


Cast this one in stone folks, especially the first six words of Kell's quote!!! And that can be applied to ANYTHING a child should learn about themselves or how to live in this world!

[Everyday Hunter]

We grew up with many role models, first of all our parents, our families, our friends, and lastly media of papers or TV. Funny though, you would pick the "lone Ranger" as a moral role model. He fought for justice and the rule of law, truly, yet he rode with a mask like a bandit (as if being the law needed to be hidden) and throughout the entire show, he called his sidekick fool or stupid (that is what Tonto means) http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... osabe-mean

First, I won't argue about the order of role models...
Parents being first: Most of us at that time had parents who themselves were raised well. Some didn't.
Friends second: It was well understood that friends were significant influences and we were advised to choose our friends wisely.
Media: The role models we saw there did not contradict, for the most part, the teachings we received from our parents, grandparents, etc.

As far as the meaning Tonto goes, there is plenty of debate on that. Much of the characterization of Tonto comes not from any southwestern tribe, but from a Michigan tribe called the Potawatomi. It is true that the word "tonto" means "stupid," or "fool" in Portuguese, Italian and Spanish, but the name translates as "wild one" in the Potawatomi. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonto) That goes back to the radio series prior to TV. People looking for another source would easily settle on the Spanish meaning, since Mexico borders Texas, but there is no real reason to conclude that.

The origin of the Lone Ranger's mask also traces back to the radio series. Tonto and the Lone (Texas) Ranger wanted the gang that attacked six Texas Rangers to think that all of them were dead. Here's the paragraph from Wikipedia that describes the premise of the original show, a radio production (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lone_Ranger):
"While details differ, the basic story of the origin of the Lone Ranger is the same in most versions of the franchise. Six Texas Rangers are ambushed by a band of outlaws led by Bartholomew "Butch" Cavendish. Later, a Native American named Tonto stumbles on the scene and recognizes the lone survivor, Ranger Reid (whose first name was never given on the show), as the man who had saved his life some time in the past. He nurses Reid back to health. The two men dig six graves for Reid's comrades, so that Cavendish will think there were no survivors. Among them is Reid's brother, Captain Daniel Reid, who is the Captain of the Texas Rangers. Tonto fashions a black Domino mask using material from Captain Daniel Reid's vest to conceal the Lone Ranger's identity. Even after the Cavendish gang is brought to justice, Reid continues to fight for law and order, against evil and crime under the guise of the Lone Ranger." The "Lone" Ranger was a sole survivor who carried on the mission of the dead Texas Rangers.

There are differing cases to be made, but it makes little sense to suggest "Tonto" means "fool" when the story had no Portuguese, nor Italian, nor Spanish background, but it did have Potawatomi background. And when the reason for the Lone Ranger's mask is explained, the mask makes better sense, too. Plus, it made for better TV and a better following among kids riding their stick horses around the house.

In this day of political correctness, we need to realize that we also have people rewriting history for political motivations -- some of which intend to make "dead white men" out to be bad guys. Certainly some of the absolute truths in the histories are lost with the people who originated these TV episodes. And then when Johnny Carson and Saturday Night Live get finished panning them, errors creep into the public consciousness. I'd be careful about concluding Tonto means "fool" and that the mask means justice must be hidden. These views tend to denigrate the dead people who conceived these shows, and they're no longer around to defend themselves.

For sure, we can say that these oldies were goodies, that they advanced a clear moral code, and that they had a positive influence on the generation that watched them.

Steve.

[luvhuntin]

That was a great piece!

I read that before heading out to the woods this morning so i had time to ponder all day the implications of the slow creep we have all witnessed over our lifetimes.

I really think it comes down to the fact that these kids do`nt fear death anymore they don`t have it like we did, forced outside at all times of the year to PLAY! The broken bones scrapes and bruises or just the pain of winter snow if it got under our gloves and stung our wrists. It would slow us down for a few minutes hours or days and give the whole family time to give you a talking too if needed. or at least time to make you a bowl of soup to get you feeling better or warmed up. boy cambell`s beef soup and salami sandwiches bring back memories. Yeah there are the extreme sports guys out there and the jackass movies but those do`nt seem to even get kids off the couch and then it`s just to see how injured they can get not how to be productive at something.

I was 12 in 1980 when the feminazi movement swept through the country and destroyed the family unit as we know it. of course there were some suicides in high school after that but we never had to worry about some distraught kid taking us with them even they were more respectful of life than kids now days. My biggest worry is it can`t be fixed it has crept to far and has to get much worse before it gets better.

[Ohio farms]

I was 12 in 1980 when the feminazi movement swept through the country and destroyed the family unit as we know it. of course there were some suicides in high school after that but we never had to worry about some distraught kid taking us with them even they were more respectful of life than kids now days. My biggest worry is it can`t be fixed it has crept to far and has to get much worse before it gets better.

You made an awful lot of generalities in your reasoning. I don't think that having cold hands, bumps and scrapes made us more aware of our mortality than the current generation. I would agree that they have their faults, but you seem to lump them all with the fringe groups of their generation. That's not fair.
To blame the women's rights movement for "destroying the family unit as we know it" is very simplistic thinking. Do you think that women's roll should consist of raising the the children, cleaning the house and getting the dinner ready and be happy with that, while us men chose our role in life. come on man.

[luvhuntin]

Hold on a minute

Do you think that women's roll should consist of raising the the children, cleaning the house and getting the dinner ready and be happy with that, while us men chose our role in life

The question mark is missing at the end unless your just throwing labels to piss me off. Yes its a complicated issue that I reduced to keep words to a minimum. Do I believe what you say? well lets see, A child is only supposed to live at home for 18 years, they become mostly self sufficient at ages that reduce that lets just say to 12, so yes for that amount of years someone should be home with them when they leave for school and come home from school and preferably the woman for at least the first five . Raising kids should be your primary objective once you have them. And yes the feminazi movement not women`s rights, that was way earlier, is to blame remember the quote "women need a man like a fish needs a bicycle"? except at the first of every month! because she was too busy raising HIS kids to have a meaningful job I`M SORRY but raising kids is! and IF that gets me a label i`ll wear it proudly.

[Ohio farms]

Yes, there should have been a (?) at the end of the statement and no, I was not trying to piss you off. I didn't agree with you blaming women's rights on the breakup of the family, however.
Many couples have children with both parents working, myself included. We worked split shifts so that one of us was there to be the primary influence in our daughter's life. We were not unique in that.
I would offer that a major reason for the breakup of families is the father who is not around. I certainly agree that the parenting of your children is your first obligation, no doubt. We just might agree on this issue more that you think