Posted on 01/13/2010 4:06:39 AM PST by marktwain
There are people today who are shocked to discover that gun manufacturers advertise their products in magazines displayed on grocery store shelves.
Gun ads? In a grocery store? What if the children see those ads?
As shocking as it might be to some people, there was a time not so long ago when guns were not only advertised in dedicated "gun" magazines, they were routinely advertised in popular publications of all kinds.
Guns used to be a normal and acceptable part of American life. Guns were accepted as necessary tools and respectable recreational equipment ... even for children.
A boy learned to shoot before the training wheels came off his bike. He could even carry his rifle to school for shooting practice without causing a panic that resulted in a S.W.A.T. team locking down the school.
Sometime in the later half of the 20th century, that began to change. Slowly, the idea that people are responsible for their own actions faded away and was replaced by the notion that society's ills can be controlled by regulating objects such as guns.
People are no better or worse now than they were in days gone by. There have always been murders. There have always been bad people. What's missing now is common sense. And along the way, we've lost a big part of the American character.
(Excerpt) Read more at buckeyefirearms.org ...
When the Thompson came out, they sold for $175, which was VERY expensive for the time.
Indeed. Should be used more often.
I can remember as a boy in the early 60’s shopping with my Daddy at the Western Auto for guns. Army surplus stores reeking of cosmoline and selling real Army surplus, crates of M1 rifles, bayonettes, etc.
Holy moly, look at the heaps of dead bandidos and their horses. They didn’t pussy-foot around what their product was to be used for, did they? I can scarcely imagine the reaction if a firearms maker used similar advertising today.
You shoulda bought more of ‘em.
“You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.”
BFL
Nothing says lovin´ like something from the oven.
If I’m not mistaken Senator Chris Dodds Father wrote that Bill which was translated from Hitlers Gun control Act of the 1930s.
I have this type of revolver except it's a S&W, looks identical, has a safety on the back of the grip like a 1911 .45 ACP
I love it! Thats just a great ad and right on the money!
I still hve some old magazines with advertisements for army surplus Enfield handguns for sale. $19.95. Drop a check in the mail, and it will be delivered railway express. The shipping cost as much as the pistol!
These adds were in all men’s magazines, outdoor mags, Western mags, Popular mechanical mags.
Then there were those full page adds in the gun mags for just about everything you ever wanted in the way of army surplus, including demilled Thompson and Sterling sub machine guns. Demilled by hitting the feed ramp with a weld. then the government found crimnals were filing off the weld.
And who can forget those 1900 era SEARS catalogs with the origional $2.00 pistols for sale by mail!
I got my first rifle in 1961 when I was 14, It was a Christmas gift bought for me by a felon who had been in prison in 1942. No paperwork required.
In 1968 he could no longer touch a firearm due to the 1968 Gun Control Law.
I bought my own rifle in 1964 when Iwas 17 and had been buying ammo since I was 14. 45 Cents for 50 rounds of .22 shorts. Again no paperwork required.
I used to see guns for sale in gun stores, hardware stores, clothing stores, gas stations, grocery stores.
Anyone who was not around in 1968 should go to the Library and read the newspaper editorials and major magazines of the time and see what pressure gun owners wer under. From the killing of John Kennedy to the killing of Robert Kennedy ther was a major effort by the liberal press to force gun registration and controls on the public.
To me this was the real beginning of the split between conservatives and leftists.
Wasn't uncommon/unusual at every carnival in town, but that was LONG ago.....
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