My World War I veteran neighbor (when I was a teen! He’s now long gone) showed me the revolver he bought in 1912.
Over the counter.
From a hardware store.
At age 14.
I was born way too late... or early :)
I’ll never cease to be amazed at people that pretend guns are the big reason for school shootings. Guns have been prevalent in the U.S. for a long, long time now. To say it’s guns implies that Americans weren’t armed in the 1970s, 1960s, 1950s, etc., but mass school shootings are a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States. In fact, they’re more frequent today despite guns being way more taboo in public schools now than in our past.
Something went very, very wrong with Millennial and Generation Z Americans. I can only surmise in a world of YouTube e-celebs who’ll do anything for attention, they want that easy, instant fame that comes with the widespread media coverage shooters receive. We get all the little details of, for example, Adam Lanza’s life, what his neighbors and classmates thought of him, his home life, details about his room and P.C. browsing history, etc. Must look like hog heaven to any attention-whoring narcissist.
My first deer rifle was an 03 Springfield, I picked it out of about 20 that were in a galvanized trashcan in front of the counter at the local hardware store, 20 dollars.
In the mail from Sears Roebuck 1950s.
I bought several guns before I was 16, including high powered rifles. As far I know there was no law against selling guns to anyone that had the money to buy it.
There wasn’t any paperwork to fill out either. Pay the money and walk out of the store carrying your new 30-30 Winchester and 4 boxes of ammo. That was the mid 60’s.
My parents gave me a Browning A5 for Christmas when I was twelve. My dad signed my hunting license verifying that I could hunt alone also when I was 12.