The way life used to be...

[bettis1]

...when little boys played with guns and were taught proper handling.

The first is me with a Stevens .410 pistol (when they were legal) and the second is my younger brother with his BB gun. My picture was taken in the early '40's and my brother's in the mid '40's.

Bob

 

[NCTexan]

Being raised in such a "unacceptable" environment... I assume that this led you and your brother to a lives of violence and crime.

We are after all... just products of our upbringing.

 

[Tom Beavert]

The good old days

Yep, I remember those days, let's bring them back.
Thanks for posting those
tb

 

[Biginge]

Bettis, yep times have shore changed. My Granddaddy gave me a Winchester 74 .22 auto when I was 8. That was 1949. We moved into town several years later (Shreveport, La.) I had a problem with the 74 not ejecting, I believe it was. The only gunsmith I knew of was downtown. So I walked up to the trolley line (about 10 at the time), paid my nickel and rode trolley downtown. Mind you I have said Winchester in my hand, no case, etc., just the gun and my burning desire to get it fixed before the rabbit population got out of check.

Got off of trolley in downtown Shreveport, walked several blocks, to Lorants Army/Navy Surplus where the gunsmith worked. He fixed it. Got back on trolley and went home.

No involvement by SWAT, local police, schools, Child Protective Services, etc. The only government official involved was the city bus driver. And no one even cared in those days.

Just a better and easier time in those days. I like your photos and this post.

Yours for more days afield.

 

[Bell Charter Oak Holsters]

I too, lament the loss of innocence. A picture is truly worth a thousand words sometimes....that time was one of them. Thanks for posting those Bob.

Cheers;
Lefty

 

[feralmerril]

I was raised bad.

 

[keith44spl]

Yup,

Those were the days....

When boys grew up to be Men and women were darn proud of it!

.

 

[Dirty Dan]

Yeah, and Sears & Roebuck sold military surplus rifles and handguns, out of oak barrels, outside the store, and Nobody opened for business on July the 4th..Americans, all Americans were proud to be living in the Greatest Nation in the world, and nobody apologized for who we were, as a Nation, under God!!

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

I was raised bad.

A younger Bonnie & Clyde????

 

[Ray]

 

[Ray]

That´s me , Mother and Father in a hunting trip in late fifties or early sixties.
I´m holding a 9 mm shotshell Flobert shotgun.The big dog on the right is Tejo my pet at that time . The others are hunting dogs and a dead Paca rests on the boat.
A remembrance of a time when you could hunt in Brazil.
Regards, Ray

 

[deanodog]

AAAHHH...Those good ol days. I miss them bad. Those were happy days. I always had food to eat,clothes to wear and a place to sleep. I didn't have much else but I didn't care. Times were hard in KY then but we were happier then than now. I had an old Winchester model 68 single shot bolt action rifle and loved it. When I could afford a box of 22 short,long or long rifle.

 

[Airpark]

The common thread that I see in all these posts is that we all did not have much back in those days.....HOWEVER...the one thing we had that really mattered was "LOVE"...a mom and a pop who cared for you.

There are some things that money cannot buy.

 

[carpriver]

Back in the day we all ate breakfast together and were home for supper with the family, we said grace and thanked the good lord for what we had. Then we went back out to play until the street light came on. Cowboy and Indians, or cops and robbers with caps guns or wood cut outs. When did life get so busy that kids got put in second place.

 

[Steely Dan]

Just spent a relaxing week at my mother in law in Southern Mississippi

Here is basically what I did all week......

Each morning, big breakfast. Lots of coffee

Go pick peas from the garden, shell them, eat dinner

Go check on cattle, let the chickens out to free range the yard.

Eat supper, read, go to sleep, next day repeat

Very relaxing. Going down there is like stepping back in time.

 

[shouldazagged]

When did life get so busy that kids got put in second place.

Part of the problem is that some parents seem to think they have to keep the kids too busy to be kids. Sports, music lessons, dance classes, tutoring, and on and on and on. None of those things is pernicious in itself, but when you put them all together neither the children, nor the parents who have to haul them around, have time to have meals together or do other family things.

"Well rounded" is wonderful. "Exhausted and frustrated" stinks. I give the parents credit for meaning well, but there needs to be breathing room and time for the little incipient humans to be kids and play without structure.

 

[dswancutt]

I was raised bad.

I'd like to have the 36 Ford coupe your sitting on.

 

[feralmerril]

I recall rideing to the ozarks from wisconsin in that. I and my sister sat on footstools behind the seats. I loved that car!

 

[gfy1960]

That´s me , Mother and Father in a hunting trip in late fifties or early sixties.
I´m holding a 9 mm shothell Flobert shotgun.The big dog on the right is Tejo my pet at that time . The others are hunting dogs and a dead Paca rests on the boat.
A remembrance of a time when you could hunt in Brazil.
Regards, Ray

That Paca seemed a little out numbered to me

 

[dswancutt]

I recall rideing to the ozarks from wisconsin in that. I and my sister sat on footstools behind the seats. I loved that car!

No seat belts or child seat, oh the horror of it all