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Today's dangerous toys pale to those of past
Chicago Sun Times ^ | November 26, 2003 | MARK BROWN SUN

Posted on 11/30/2003 2:08:21 PM PST by KneelBeforeZod

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To: meowmeow
My parents would have been locked up.

One year for Christmas, my brother an I were given a single shot .22 Sears rifle. We set up a shooting range in the basement. Of course, it was all well controlled, and my dad doled out the ammunition. Imagine what would happen today...

221 posted on 11/30/2003 6:32:28 PM PST by Fresh Wind
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To: boris
Remember the little rockets you filled halfway with water the pumped up with air? Some of the better ones would go 300-400' up.
222 posted on 11/30/2003 6:40:17 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Proud member - Neoconservative Power Vortex)
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To: Fresh Wind
About a month ago, I stopped at an estate sale I was passing by on another errand. Inside, I found an old Stevens .22 'Little Scout' rifle in very good condition. It was chambered for .22 shorts. They wanted $150.00 which was too rich for me so I came back the next day when it would have been half-off. Some other lucky kid's father bought it before I got there.
223 posted on 11/30/2003 6:44:10 PM PST by WorkingClassFilth (DEFUND NPR & PBS - THE AMERICAN PRAVDA)
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To: Mike Darancette
Anyone else here like "Spud Guns"?
224 posted on 11/30/2003 6:45:47 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Proud member - Neoconservative Power Vortex)
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To: Vermonter
"You'll shoot your eye out, kid". Yes, my little sister actually DID get shot in the eye by a neighbor boy's toy arrow. She got taken likety split to the eye docter, and her eye eventually healed completely.
225 posted on 11/30/2003 6:48:32 PM PST by Irene Adler
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To: Mike Darancette
"Anyone else here like "Spud Guns"?"

My brother and I gave each other spud guns for Christmas the year they came out and totally wasted my mothers 10# bag of potatoes the first week!
226 posted on 11/30/2003 6:54:13 PM PST by dalereed (,)
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To: Irene Adler
Oh, I got one more. My first cousin "somehow" got both his hands really burned when a page of toy six shooter "caps" "caught fire" in his hands. I've always thought he touched a match to 'em to see what would happen. He found out, all right.
227 posted on 11/30/2003 6:57:26 PM PST by Irene Adler
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To: KneelBeforeZod
Statists have enacted or are trying to enact 'zero tolerance' against most of the toys.

The reason is mostly sold as being for "safety" but these meglomaniacs could care less about anyone's safety except for their own, and of the corrupt state that they worship.

The objective of getting rid of these toys is to quell the natural curiousity and the development of mechanical knowledge that generally comes about as a result of playing with such toys.

Then you wind up with a bunch of males that have no natural curiosity or mechanical inclination, and hence no self-sufficiency. That makes them easy to control.

228 posted on 11/30/2003 7:02:28 PM PST by Mulder (Fight the future)
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To: Republican Red
My mom bought me a plastic flower kit when I was recovering from strep throat, about age 11. I remember getting buzzed on the melted plastic but not how it got melted.

Ah, memories.
229 posted on 11/30/2003 7:12:03 PM PST by annyokie (One good thing about being wrong is the joy it brings to others.)
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To: annyokie
Just thinking here, but have they banned magnifying glasses yet?

Sure was easy to start a fire with one of them, not to mention the discovery that ants would burn
230 posted on 11/30/2003 7:13:51 PM PST by Vermonter (No sweatshop labor was used in the production of this tag line)
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To: Orangedog
Sorry, can't.

If I told you , I'd have to kill you. Besides that, it's not readily available. It took us several tries to blow it up too.
231 posted on 11/30/2003 7:15:33 PM PST by cyclotic (Forget United Fraud (way) donate directly to your local Boy Scout Council.)
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To: Mulder
If you want something designed and built quickly at the least expense and guaranteed to work, get a hot rodder from the 40s or 50s to do it!
232 posted on 11/30/2003 7:17:16 PM PST by dalereed (,)
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To: Indy Pendance
Yep, Creepy-Crawlies were made in a little hotplate thing and gave off noxious fumes. We loved them.
233 posted on 11/30/2003 7:18:32 PM PST by annyokie (One good thing about being wrong is the joy it brings to others.)
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To: KneelBeforeZod
He and his brothers were allowed to have toy arrows with actual steel tips that they would let fly at squirrels and rabbits.

When I was eight years old, I got a nice archery bow with little steel traget tips. When these arrows would hit squirrels, they would bounce off. When I was around 12, I replaced the tips with razor sharp "bear" tips. These too bounced off the sides of the squirrels - at short range. That kids' bow just did not have to power to hurt anything. If it did, I would not have had the power to draw it.

234 posted on 11/30/2003 7:21:56 PM PST by Jeff Gordon (Why can't we all just get along and do things my way?)
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To: Jeff Gordon
I used to put 30.06 bullets on the tip of my arrows.
235 posted on 11/30/2003 7:23:55 PM PST by dalereed (,)
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To: ServesURight
I remember the science sets for kids that contained LOTS of chemicals and glass beakers. Lots of chemicals but nothing really dangerous as I recall. I had to go to Walgreen's to get Saltpeter and Sulfur to mix with ground up charcoal briquettes before I could get dangerous. The crucible from the chemistry set was good for grinding the stuff. The cardboard tubes the test tubes came in made fun rockets when filled with the stuff. The glass flasks (tops taped down tight) made good bombs when filled with the stuff.
236 posted on 11/30/2003 7:30:50 PM PST by Jeff Gordon (Why can't we all just get along and do things my way?)
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To: Vermonter
Could we have a show of hands for anyone who knows someone who put someone else's eye out with one of these toys from back when?

When I was in the second grade a kid poked his eye out with a pencil. He was using the pencil to get his shoe string unknotted. Do pencils come with warnings?

237 posted on 11/30/2003 7:36:52 PM PST by Jeff Gordon (Why can't we all just get along and do things my way?)
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To: South40
LT, Remember childhood dangers thread.
238 posted on 11/30/2003 7:40:46 PM PST by annyokie (One good thing about being wrong is the joy it brings to others.)
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To: Vermonter
We my brother and I, incinerated many ant colonies with our magnifying glasses.

My kids do the same. No ban yet!
239 posted on 11/30/2003 7:48:55 PM PST by annyokie (One good thing about being wrong is the joy it brings to others.)
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To: Mike Darancette
Kid watches that would glow green in the dark -- for hundreds of years.
240 posted on 11/30/2003 7:52:38 PM PST by GOPJ
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