Free Republic

Let’s face it; there are a lot more BB guns and air rifles available than when we were kids. In fact, most options available these days are designed and marketed to fully-grown up kids. However, there is still one model that stands apart from the rest. The best BB gun for your kids to learn on is still the Red Ryder…

A Christmas Story House, now restored to its movie splendor, is open year round to the public for tours and overnight stays. Directly across the street from the House is A Christmas Story Museum, which features original props, costumes and memorabilia from the film, as well as hundreds of rare behind-the-scenes photos. Among the props and costumes are the toys from the Higbee’s window, Randy’s snowsuit, the chalkboard from Miss Shields’ classroom and the family car. After reliving A Christmas Story at Ralphie’s house don’t forget to visit the museum gift shop for your own Major Award Leg Lamp and...

The FBI is launching its own investigation into the shooting this week of Andy Lopez, the 13-year-old Santa Rosa boy killed by a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy who mistook the BB gun Lopez was holding for an assault rifle. FBI officials notified command staff for Sheriff Steve Freitas and Santa Rosa Police Chief Tom Schwedhelm of the move Friday. The federal inquiry is separate from the investigation led by Santa Rosa police into the deputy-involved shooting. A spokesman in the FBI’s San Francisco office called the agency’s inquiry a “shooting review,” looking into the “incident itself (and) the deputies’ response.”...

It wouldn't be Christmas without 'A Christmas Story,' the 1983 movie that became an instant holiday classic thanks to its winning cast and quotable scenes. The film is as time-honored a tradition as getting your tongue stuck to a pole in freezing weather. Here's a then-and-now look at the gang from fictional Hohman, Indiana, who brought the 'original, traditional, one-hundred-percent, red-blooded, two-fisted, all-American Christmas' tale to life ...

CHICAGO — In the opening minutes of the popular holiday film, "A Christmas Story," little Ralphie Parker is mesmerized by a BB gun in a store window. Not just any BB gun, but "the Holy Grail of Christmas gifts," the Red Ryder 200-shot range model air rifle. That same hypnotic stare made Sarah and Tim Baldwin snicker on a Wednesday afternoon while Christmas shopping at Bass Pro Shops’ Bolingbrook, Ill., store. Their son, Mitchell, 9, was holding the latest Red Ryder, turning it over in his hands, stroking it, trying to free it from its plastic case. "You like that...

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.” Proverbs 19:20 (NIV) “You’ll shoot your eye out.” If you’ve ever watched the classic movie “A Christmas Story,” you might be able to relate to Ralphie who was trying to convince his parents to buy him a Red Ryder BB gun as a gift. In the 1940s, the Red Ryder was a popular boy’s toy. We can all remember similar advice from our parents like “wash behind your ears,” “do unto others,” “bundle up or you’ll catch a cold,” and the list could go on. Our...

A sassy classic Ralphie, the lamp, the BB gun and why we love them Every year at this time we get to unwrap a gift package filled with red cabbage, BBs and fishnet stockings. It's the movie "A Christmas Story," arguably America's favorite holiday film. The 90-minute picture celebrates its 21st anniversary this year, happily planted in the middle of our pop traditions. In 2003, more than 38.4 million viewers tuned into the 24-hour "A Christmas Story" TV marathon, said the film's director, Bob Clark, by phone as he sat next to a special lamp in his Los Angeles office....

WILMETTE -- About 35 Wilmette residents, including three paintball-loving teens who have already committed to join the U.S. Marine Corps, came out in support of the right to own and sell airguns last Thursday night during a meeting of the Wilmette Public Safety Committee. Every speaker opposed a proposed ordinance that would ban airguns in Wilmette, including air rifles, air pistols, BB guns and paint ball guns. "I think they thought they had a slam dunk here, but it turns out they didn't," said Wilmette resident Ralf Seiffe, who opposes the proposed ban and attended the committee meeting. "They got...

<p>We bear glad tidings for the Ralphie Parkers of America on this, the official opening day of the Christmas shopping season: Santa may yet come through with that genuine Red Ryder BB-gun. Even if it will come covered in warning labels instead of wrapping paper.</p>