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11 Apr 06 - 04:27 PM (#1715416) Subject: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk Does anyone else remember those long-gone days of yore? All the boys used to run around outside with their Red Rider plastic rifles, their cap gun six-shooters, and all that other lovely stuff, yelling "Bang! Bang!" "I gotcha!" "No, you didn't, I got you!" And so on... I remember one kid who used to yell, "Dow! Dow!" (that was his idea of a gunshot sound) My God, it was a different world then. You run around with a cap gun outside now and you are likely to be surrounded by a swat team in five minutes or less. But...I notice that young boys are now hunkered down for hours in front of video screens upon which they massacre thousands of generic victims in a digital fantasy, complete with splashes of blood, grunts of paint, visuals of heads getting blown off...just by twiddling their thumbs. They get no exercise, they use no imagination, they just kill people vicariously. So have we really progressed? I think not. I think we've regressed. I'd much rather see them running around in the back lot, getting fresh air and exercise, and pretending to be Davy Crockett or Robin Hood or Crazy Horse or someone like that. Darned right I would. I regard the present forms of political correctness to be like a lace doily that has been fetchingly draped over a decaying corpse to try to make it look pretty. It fools people who don't look at it too closely. Discuss to your heart's content... |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:29 PM (#1715419) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Peace Last friggin' time Davy Crockett was a hit it cost about 10,000,000 raccoons their lives to make fashionable hats for kids of all ages. |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:30 PM (#1715420) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: number 6 Good thread LH ... the middle class kids who ran around with the Davey Crockett hats, guns, defended tha Alamo in their back yards etc. grew up to be the ones who protested the Vietnam war, or became the many deserters and draft dogers. sIx |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:33 PM (#1715422) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: number 6 Peace ... imagine if they hadn't been hit ... we'd have raccoons swarming all over us if we hadn't .... bad enuough as it is, damned theives gettnig into our garbage, our houses ... sheeesh. sIx |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:34 PM (#1715424) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Peace LOL |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:35 PM (#1715426) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: number 6 I also don't like it when those raccoons rape our cats !! sIx |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:37 PM (#1715431) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: gnu LH said... "I think we've regressed." Big time. |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:38 PM (#1715432) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: number 6 Sorry gnu ..... will 50 Hail Mary's do? sIx |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:41 PM (#1715437) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: bobad "used to yell, "Dow! Dow!"" In Quebec that would have got you two quarts of beer. |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:42 PM (#1715439) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk Peace, I somehow get the feeling that even the Davy Crockett craze did not eliminate quite enough raccoons. I'm just going by the garbage raiding situation in Ontario when I say that...the little rotters are everywhere! My buddies and I fought a full-scale war with them in the alleyway beside the rental house near Yonge & Eglinton back in '72, after the garbage had been strewn about just one too many times for our taste. |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:45 PM (#1715442) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Rapparee Yes, and we played "Army": toss a dirt clod up in the air and yell "Grenade!", fill a paper bag with dust and pretend it's an HE shell.... We used toy guns, sticks, boards, whatever our imaginations could make into a firearm. Far more of the kids (because the girls played with us) who played cowboy&indians or Army marched off to Vietnam than deserted. Many of those who went paid for the games of their elders. |
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11 Apr 06 - 04:49 PM (#1715444) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk Yes, Rapaire, that's true...just as the kids who play "shooter" video games now march off to Iraq and Afghanistan. Little has really changed in that sense, except that they have not yet re-instated the Draft. |
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11 Apr 06 - 05:10 PM (#1715465) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp I "play" with guns, and I even get paid for it sometimes. - Chongo |
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11 Apr 06 - 05:28 PM (#1715479) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: gnu sIx... Hail Mary's won't stop the Heil Hitlers... never did... never will. Although, one can hope. Sigh... the rich subjugate the poor. History repeats. So sad. Sorry for bringing the mood down. But, "those days" are still here. We just understand them now. Like, all this stuff in the papers over the last week about why being in Afghanistan keeps me safe here in Moncton... or, why a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Iran might be a wise decision. Fuck the Red Ryder BB gun with the compass in the stock. With GPS, we can slide a nuke up their ass and not even mess up their buildings... just fry the people we don't like. So sad. But, hey, they have a sale on backyard, propane, deep fryers this week. Don't ya just wanna deep fry a turkey? And forget about how much it hurt when you got a BB in the ass? Hey... we never shot above the belt when we played war. So sad. |
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11 Apr 06 - 05:38 PM (#1715487) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk The kids I knew never used BB guns (or pellet guns) in those games. We just used cap guns and stuff that wasn't dangerous. The BB guns came along a bit later, and were used to shoot at tin cans and stuff, but not at each other. There would have been hell to pay from our parents if anyone had shot BBs at another kid, believe me. We used to get firecrackers pretty much any time we wanted to. Cherry bombs were the best. Those were used again, not on each other, but to blow up cans and old model boats and stuff. All of that stuff, and the only time I ever hurt myself was once when I was running with a stick that had got the end red hot in a fire. I tripped and the stick went against my face and gave me a bad burn about the size of a dime. I still have a scar from it to this day. |
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11 Apr 06 - 05:39 PM (#1715488) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Peace We used sling shots and snowballs with rocks in them. |
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11 Apr 06 - 05:41 PM (#1715494) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk Whoa! I must have been in a really nice neighborhood, I guess... |
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11 Apr 06 - 05:48 PM (#1715503) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: gnu Rocks in them? Tsk, tsk. I use to take that extra time at night when I was allowed to stay out later than the other kids to pack my balls really tight in my snowfort. Regulation hardball size. And, I could whip em like Sandy. Hey. Maybe we could settle all this with a good snowball fight. Whattaya say guys? Garge? Kim? Saddam? That crazy fucker in Iran? |
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11 Apr 06 - 05:53 PM (#1715509) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk I have seen no evidence that he is any crazier than George Bush. ;-) |
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11 Apr 06 - 05:54 PM (#1715510) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Peace Like, that means we'll have two fuckin' lunatics with nuclear weapons. |
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11 Apr 06 - 06:10 PM (#1715519) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: number 6 LH ... regarding BB guns ... once and while one of us(myself included) would get shot ... luckily none of where hurt seriously, and we would never tell our parents. sIxc |
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11 Apr 06 - 06:20 PM (#1715532) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk No, I bet you never told them. ;-) |
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11 Apr 06 - 06:24 PM (#1715539) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: The Fooles Troupe hmmm... cold war.... nuclear snowballs... zzzzzzzzzz.... |
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11 Apr 06 - 06:41 PM (#1715551) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Joybell Little Hawk, It wasn't just the boys. I really wanted to be a cowboy. Not a cowgirl -- although there were lots of strong characters among the women in Westerns. No I wanted to be the lone stranger who rode into town and sorted things out and rode off again into the sunset. Cheers, The Lone Stranger. |
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11 Apr 06 - 06:42 PM (#1715553) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Janie Down here in rural and small town Nawth Cearlina our boys still play with cap guns and have shoot 'em outs. All it takes is one trip to Tweetsie Railroad. We started out not allowing toy guns, but eventually realized that any stick with a bend in it served the same purpose. (I'll never forget our priest's wife talking about her 'toy gun forbidden' son using a cousin's Barbie doll, bent over at the hips for a substitute.) We do not, however, permit television and most of our friends with boys severely limit how much (and what)television the kids can watch. In our circle of friends we all have strict limits on the amount of time and the nature of video/computer games. We TALK to our kids about violence and aggression. Express concern to my boy or his closest friends that they might think guns or combat are glamerous, though, and they will all reply--gosh no, Mom, people get hurt in real gun fights or combat! I also notice that they spend most of their time working on their costumes, sneaking up, strategizing or arguing about 'THE RULES." (Actually, my kid much prefers sword fights.) BUT--we live where our kids do not see violence in the streets, and don't encounter much of it in school. Hopefully they do not see it at home either. Janie |
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11 Apr 06 - 06:45 PM (#1715556) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Bert Lie down dead and count to twenty! |
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11 Apr 06 - 11:20 PM (#1715763) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: frogprince "pack my balls really tight in my snowfort"... I never liked to pack my balls really tight; just too damned uncomfortable... |
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11 Apr 06 - 11:21 PM (#1715765) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk Have you tried freezing them overnight to make them harder? |
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11 Apr 06 - 11:23 PM (#1715769) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: number 6 Jeeeezuz !! sIx |
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11 Apr 06 - 11:25 PM (#1715770) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: CarolC Hey! Raccoons are great! They're smarter and a lot more fun than many people... ( ...don't be dissin' my buds, eh?) |
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11 Apr 06 - 11:36 PM (#1715779) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: frogprince Camped on North Manitou Island ( a few acres in Lake Michigan). Hung the pack with food high, well out between trees on a rope, just as suggested in the park literature. Had barely laid down in the tent when I heard a ruckus. One of the sunuvaguns, I think not quite full grown, had scooted right out the rope and was on the pack. He saw me, zipped back to the fork the rope was over, and just sat staring back at me. Just when I spoke up to try to wake up my wife to see him, though, he took off. We had to sleep with the food pack and carry it with us as we hiked around. Just before we left the island, we saw his grandpa shuffling along a trail; I never dreamt coons got as big as that one; looked like one of our old farm hogs. |
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12 Apr 06 - 03:53 AM (#1715923) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Purple Foxx I had a formidable "arsenal" as a child & as an Army Cadet was using genuine lethal weaponry (under close Military supervision) by the age of 13. By the age of 19 I was active in the peace movement. It seems to me that by banning toy guns you instill them with "the lure of the forbidden" in children's eyes. This is likely to be counterproductive. That having been said I DO very much approve of the American habit of only manufacturing toy guns in completely unrealistic colours. Most years We holiday in Continental Europe. Toy guns are ubiquitous in shops there & tend to be extremely authentic loooking. |
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12 Apr 06 - 06:54 AM (#1716001) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Bunnahabhain Didn't hard frozen snowballs manage to start the War of Independence? Some soldiers thought they were being stoned by the crowd, and fired back and... well things never change do they? |
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12 Apr 06 - 08:44 AM (#1716061) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Rapparee The American Revolution started when the people of the Colonies spontaneously realized that an oppressive and brutal British monarch was crushing a free people under the iron heel of his tyranny. The Colonists, unified in their desire for freedom and liberty, arose as one and singelhandedly overthrew the despot, who immediately upon the defeat at Yorktown stormed petulantly off to his throne room and cried. Then everyone was free and equal under the Stars and Stripes, led to victory by George Washington and the Continental Congress. We didn't shoot bb guns at each other, but we did use them (unloaded) as toy guns. You're right about the parents, LH -- one time one of my mates brought a 1903 Springfield to play Army with and you've NEVER seen so many parents show up so fast. The bolt was welded shut -- it was used for parades -- but you've never seen a father spank his son like that either, I'll bet! |
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12 Apr 06 - 02:20 PM (#1716358) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Windsinger The American Revolution started... ...you mean it wasn't about over someone dickin' around with our breakfast beverages? ;) You know the old Bostonian expression: "F*** with a muthaf***ah's tea, and the s*** be ON." Slán, ~Fionn www.geocities.com/children_of_lir |
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12 Apr 06 - 02:23 PM (#1716363) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: number 6 I'm certainly glad they don't allow guns here in the Mudcat ... there would sure to be some mass shootups if they did? Think about, look at some the threads and posts going around .... whew! sIx |
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12 Apr 06 - 03:11 PM (#1716420) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Barry Finn We couldn't afford cap guns & such, so we'd take all the light bulbs out of the project buliding hallways & had light buld fights, when we ran out of light bulbs we'd use empty soda (pop) bottles that were left lying around. Still have the scars. Also grew up supporting the peace movements, still do. I moved from the inner city a long time ago. Not a place to raise a family. Barry |
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12 Apr 06 - 03:22 PM (#1716427) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: MMario we didn't have gun fights - we had sword fights - with "false bamboo" - after a few hits the suckers shredded and REALLY stung. |
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12 Apr 06 - 03:46 PM (#1716462) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: NH Dave We all had cap pistols and often spring=propelled BB Guns, the Red Rider model was the mostsought after when I was young. As a farm kid, I had the use of a .22 calibre rifle during all of my youth, once I had demonstrated that I would not use it recklessly. Today that would be considered child endangerment. But those of us who went to Boy Scout Camp had the chance to learn Archery as well as Rifle Shooting, and Shotgun Shooting has been added to those two sports, as a contemporary Merit Badge. I suppose the big difference was that the US was far less populated, and wide open rural areas were still around. Oh, and of course there was more individual responsibility and respect for the law. That probably came from the fact that most urban kids lived in neighborhood where any neighbor observing an infraction of the rules would mention the fact to your parents and they'd have a heart to heart or hand to butt discussion of the matter with you. Dave |
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12 Apr 06 - 09:47 PM (#1716846) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Midchuck The accepted wisdom seems to be that children playing with toy guns is bad, but adults playing with toy swords (fencing, kendo, the SCA) is good and wholesome. Oh well. Peter |
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12 Apr 06 - 09:55 PM (#1716849) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: bobad Back when I was a kid it seemed that we kids were able to separate the play world from the real world, these days it seems that adults have a difficult time doing the same. |
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12 Apr 06 - 09:58 PM (#1716854) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk That accepted wisdom is not wisdom at all, it's sheep behaviour inspired by a plague of political correctness propaganda. I played with toy guns throughout my whole childhood, and so did every other boy and a fair few of the girls back then. It did not make us any more violent than other people or any more likely to shoot someone. I have no inclination to shoot other people. Most of the other people I grew up with have no inclination to shoot other people. Most children are perfectly aware that a play fantasy is not real life. Children (with very few exceptions) are not stupid. Meanwhile, the society that gets all bent out of shape over toy plastic guns is marketing "shooter" video games to its youngsters which are far more impersonal and far more chilling in their psychological implications than the innocent adventure fantasies we engaged in when we ran around outside in the bushes and vacant lots, pretending to be Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, Geronimo, or someone out of past history. |
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12 Apr 06 - 10:07 PM (#1716870) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: The Fooles Troupe My cousin had a beaut American toy water pistol machine gun with a crank that was great. I was jealous! I remember as a kid reading in those US comics the ad for that bicycle handlebar mounted BB machine gun. My dad wouldn't write away for it. :-( |
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12 Apr 06 - 10:08 PM (#1716875) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Rapparee Oh, we'd sword fight too! Garbage can lids became shields, and mothers were known to yell a lot when we used their clothes props as lances -- couched under the arm and either run against each other on foot or on a bicycle. We also made bows and arrows -- and if you don't think a wooden arrow with a point made by rubbing it on concrete, powered from a bow strung with cotton string, isn't dangerous you've not been around many. We also made spears from various weeds and branches. AND clubs (which we sometimes threw at each other) from weed roots -- some of these weighted five pounds and could have really damaged you if they hit you. In the winter we had snowball or iceball or slushball fights; in warm weather we had rock fights. Of course, we played in old dumps (now known as landfills), so if you were injured tetanus or worse was almost certain. We didn't know any of this, so we survived. |
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12 Apr 06 - 10:19 PM (#1716890) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: The Fooles Troupe Ah! Rapaire! Did you ever build a 'rocket gun'? Take a piece of pipe sealed at one end - plastic or water hose was considered 'safer' - ha! - and mount on a piece of board with a handle. Get the tiny 'penny' rockets which had no stars inside, and Voilà! instant bazooka! Take 2 bolts and one nut, cut off the heads of many matches, place powder in the space left by assembling the contraption, tighten - NOT TOO BLOODY TIGHT! and Throw! Grenades! Never did me any harm... Hmmmm, just going to count my eyes, ears, fingers and toes again... |
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12 Apr 06 - 10:23 PM (#1716899) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk Oh, hell, we all got injured, and no one got tetanus. That's right, no one. We all shot BB guns, and no one got his eye shot out. We all built fires, and no one got his house burnt down...although one kid I knew damn near set a garage on fire with a bonfire that got a little too large. The sword fighting was great. Sock fights were cool too. You rolled up one sock tightly, put it in the toe of another long sock, and used it as a "kosh". Very neat. The objective was to bop the other person on the head with the kosh if possible, while he tried to do the same to you. If you hit his leg, he had to favor it. If you hit his arm, he had to favor it. A body hit was good, but a head hit was the ultimate. Arm or leg - 1 point. Torso - 3 points. Head - 6 points and victory. A teenager I knew had a BB machine gun, and he had the bad judgement to use it one night on a black bear that was robbing the garbage behind their country cottage, no one being around but a few of his teenage friends. They thought it would be funny. Well, the bear got really mad and chased this kid down the hill and into the lake, while everyone else ran into the cottage and locked the door. The kid was very lucky. The bear stopped at the shore, but it wouldn't let him come back out of the water, which he was in up to about his chest. He was down there yelling for help for quite awhile, till the bear finally went away. He darn near died of exposure, but it could have been a lot worse if the bear decided to go in after him, which it well might have. Hell of a stupid way to die, eh? |
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13 Apr 06 - 09:35 AM (#1717195) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: GUEST,leeneia I played with cap guns too, but here's something I mull over every time I read that a child picked up a gun and shot it, usually with tragic results. 1. Child gets play gun. Learns how it works, accepts that it's for kids to handle. 2. Child finds real gun. Picks it up, fools with it, it goes off. By way of contrast, if an adult leaves the electric mixer around, does a child pick it up and play with it? No. Because an electric mixer has never been a toy. |
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13 Apr 06 - 09:43 AM (#1717200) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: The Fooles Troupe Children (OK - over a certain age), are quite capable of understanding the difference between a toy and the real thing, if properly taught... |
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13 Apr 06 - 11:07 AM (#1717272) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Rapparee I won't argue that, L. That's why my family makes DAMNED sure all of the kids -- boys and girls -- attend (and pass!) hunter safety courses as soon as they're old enough. That's why all of the firearms are securely locked up and any ammunition is stored seperately, in a locked container. Perhaps that's why our family's last gun "accident" occurred in 1948 -- when my uncle, a veteran of the Pacific Theater, fired a .22 bullet into the ceiling of my grandmother's kitchen. That's also why my mother sent all of her kids to gun safety classes when we turned 12 -- in her words, "There are a lot of guns out there, and I want you kids to know which end the bullet comes out of." A parent who lets a child get ahold of a firearms -- loaded or not -- without adequate adult supervison is criminally negligent. As for fireworks -- why, we'd NEVER EVER think of those things! We'd never cut up duds and remove the powder, either. We wouldn't remove the bullets from .22 cartridges and pour out the powder, either. We spent most of our youth on our knees in prayer ("Dear Lord, if you let my eyebrows grow back and don't let 'em find out...."). |
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13 Apr 06 - 12:58 PM (#1717307) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk Kids don't need to play with toy guns to figure out how to pull a trigger on a real gun. They just have to watch TV and movies, and play video games. It's "dead" simple. |
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14 Apr 06 - 01:42 AM (#1717893) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: The Fooles Troupe Aw Rap, if you pull out the black stuff, they don't go Boom! any more, just Fizzz! |
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14 Apr 06 - 09:43 AM (#1718035) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Rapparee Yeah, but if you put all the powder from the insides into an aluminum bowl and accidently drop a spark into it while you're holding the bowl you can lose all your eyebrows and your older brother will point out that you'll probably never have to shave or get another haircut in front. At least, that's what I said to MY younger brother. |
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14 Apr 06 - 09:59 AM (#1718051) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: The Fooles Troupe "accidently drop a spark into it" ...from your home rolled cigarette scavagenged from all the butts you picked up? |
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14 Apr 06 - 03:16 PM (#1718277) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Rapparee No, from the smoldering punk you're holding to set off other fireworks. |
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14 Apr 06 - 08:47 PM (#1718443) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: The Fooles Troupe hehehehe! the homemade fuse made from string soaked in potassium nitrate? :-) the 'mosquito coil' you use for the long slow fuse? :-) |
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29 May 07 - 09:00 PM (#2063653) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk I have a feeling Chongo could scare one up. I'll ask him. |
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29 May 07 - 09:04 PM (#2063659) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Peace There are places you could purchase the real thing, but the visits from people with badges and guns would interfere with the movie. What you seem to be looking for is the grenade. There are various types. Check army surplus first. |
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29 May 07 - 09:20 PM (#2063668) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Peace Another thing. You are likely seeking the grenade that appears to be two ice cream cones glued together. The approximate diameter of the grenade that looks like that is 3". The OAL is about 15 inch. It tapers from the middle to the ends, one of which is in the 'rifle'. Make your own, paint it green, and that should do, no? |
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29 May 07 - 09:51 PM (#2063686) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: JohnInKansas Replica is the first thing that came up at Google. It's apparently "out of stock" at the moment, but the pictures might be good enough for you to gin up something to pass for the warhead. There should be others, or other things you could modify to pass. John |
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29 May 07 - 10:26 PM (#2063706) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Skivee Hey, MMario, Your story of playing with bamboo swords reminded me of my old days doing Kendo. The instructor had a sense of humor that edged on the bizarre. When someone opined that the bamboo practice swords (shenai) were not all that impressive, he related the story of a great Kendo master who was doing a world tour of dojos. He made it as far as Germany. While he was practice fighting one of the students, the novice made a downward head strike as he lunged forward...excellent form. Unfortunately a freak accident occurred. As he lunged forward and the bamboo tips of the shenai hit the master's face mask. The tips of the shenai shattered. ( this never happens.) The forward motion of the student resulted in the master being stabbed between the face mask grill and impalled through the eyes. Our instructor joked about the call to Japan. "We broke the Kendo master you sent out. Could you please send a replacement?" Good times. |
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29 May 07 - 10:51 PM (#2063713) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Ebbie As Amish kids my siblings and I didn't play with guns or cap pistols. We used .22s for target practice but the mood then was totally sober; no leaping around or waving the gun or anything like that. (Bragging was allowed.) I expect we got that attitude from my father. Because I was next to youngest in a large family I learned it from the older kids. We played 'Cowboys and Indians' in the woods. Along with my brothers I prized my ability to move silently through the trees. (You move carefully and with patience and your foot goes under the twigs.) Because we were also, one of my brothers and I were quite proud of the fact that 'Indians tended to be a little pigeon toed'. I have no idea if it's true but that's what we read. Perhaps because we had horses and cattle, cowboys, as such, didn't have nearly the appeal that Indians had. The Indians tended to win the battles. Our 'war' weapons were buckets of gathered acorns; our shields were 'boiler' lids (remember them?) and garbage can lids. We ran through the orchard, dodging behind trees, sneaking up and over the ridge. If you caught one of the bigger kids by surprise it made your day. Frankly, I don't remember that I ever did. |
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30 May 07 - 01:51 AM (#2063781) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk My way of honing the old steath skills was to sneak up on cats and wild animals and see how close I could get before they knew I was there. I once spent about 15 or 20 minutes creeping up on a beaver that was sitting by the edge of the pond, nibbling on branches. He suspected something was up, because every now and then he got nervous and looked all over the place, but I would freeze when he did that. After awhile he would relax and go back to chewing on his branches. So...I finally got about 2 feet away from that beaver, and I'm looking right at his big fat furry rump, and he's chewing away contentedly. I thought about pinching his tail...thought better of it...and instead bounced a small pebble off his tail. He shot up in the air and hit the water like a bomb. HUGE SPLASH and TAIL SLAP on the water!!!!!!!!! It was one of the funniest darn things I have ever seen in my entire life. About 2 minutes later he surfaced at the far side of the pond, and just floated there for a bit, staring at me like he simply couldn't believe it. Things like that just aren't supposed to happen. It's not in the beaver handbook. |
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30 May 07 - 06:17 AM (#2063877) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Bee LH, that's hilarious. ;-) |
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30 May 07 - 09:26 AM (#2063978) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Rapparee Two things I find distressing: paintball and "soft" air guns. Both are used to shoot actual things at other people; paintball is sometimes used for vandalism as well. Story: My brother was working for the Illinois State Police, and a bunch of "the boys" kept prodding him and another guy to come out and play paintball with them. Finally, he and the other guy agreed, mostly to get the others off their backs. My bro was REACT in Vietnam and no stranger to ambushes and combat. The other guy, who happened to be a good friend of his, had been combat infantry in 'Nam and had a Bronze Star with V. The two of them arrived at Ye Olde Paint Ball field, picked up the guns and ammo, and off the two of them went. No laughing and joking, just a weapons check and zero and away, no masks, no "body armor". They ambushed the other TEN guys, "killing" all of them. Silently. No boasting and bragging. They ended the "game" in about fifteen minutes, and then they went to a tavern, had a couple beers, and went home. They were never asked to "play paintball" again. |
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30 May 07 - 09:47 AM (#2063985) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk Well, there's play fantasy...and then there's the real thing, Rapaire. Those who have experienced the real thing sure wouldn't be interested in fantasizing it, would they? I was never attracted to paintball either. |
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30 May 07 - 09:55 AM (#2063990) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Dave the Gnome Even here in the UK the call of Roy Rodgers and John Wayne was strong enough for us to play cowboys and indians:-) More often though we would play 'war' with the bad guys being the 'Germans'. This was in the 1950's and none of us had any real idea who the Germans were or why we should fight them apart from what our Dads had told us! They were the same weapons though - Cap guns and plastic rifles. Did you have the cap 'bombs' over there in the US? Metal or plastic 'rockets' where you inserted a cap (or more often half a dozen!) under a plunger. When thrown or dropped against something hard the cap(s) would explode. We also made our own weapons 'Gat' guns (gat being short for catapult) made out of wood and strong elastic (old bicycle innertubes were great) that could fire stones realy quite accurately. 'French Arrows' - About a yard of bamboo with flights made from cardboard and weighted at the end with anything sticky - usualy tar off the road surface. They were launched by hand, holding near the tip and using a piece of string held taut by a clever loop around the flights end. Not a good description I know but they were also known as 'throwing arrows' - I'm sure someone will know them. They seemed to sail in a huge arc, landing hundreds of feet away. Maybe it wasn't that far realy;-) We would charge around the 'croft' for hours on end making up all sorts of games, usualy involving attacking the other local 'gangs' (There's another word that has been hijacked!) In the wet when we couldn't go out we would sit for hours gazing sadly out of the window until the rain eased enough to commence hostilities once more:-) Don't care whether anyone will class this as just nostalgia or whether I am looking through rose coloured goggles but it did seem a simpler and happier childhood than some of the kids get now. Thanks for bringing it all back. Dave |
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30 May 07 - 10:13 AM (#2063997) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Dave the Gnome Here is the French Arrow :D |
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30 May 07 - 10:15 AM (#2063999) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Peace Guns aren't toys. Guns are business. |
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30 May 07 - 10:39 AM (#2064015) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Dave the Gnome REAL guns aren't toy's, Bruce. You will have a hell of a time convincing me that the silver and plastic things of my childhood are anything like 'business' though:-) I know what you mean but surely if we take away the toys then the new generation will always find it difficult to tell the difference between real life and fantasy won't they? I always knew, for one. I am willing to be convinced otherwise! Cheers Dave |
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30 May 07 - 10:50 AM (#2064027) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk The French Arrow looks almost identical in general plan to the rockets that were fired from Allied ground attack aircraft in WWII (planes such as the Corsair, P-47, P-51, Typhoon, etc...). |
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30 May 07 - 11:16 AM (#2064062) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Rapparee Drawings on ancient Greek vases show a loop with the thrower's fingers in it near the non-pointed end. Last I heard, archaeologists were still trying to figure our why it was there. I figured it out first time I saw it.... |
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30 May 07 - 11:27 AM (#2064077) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Peace I was talking about all guns, Dave. I have no wish to change anyone's mind about guns. Toy guns are toy guns. Real guns are business. That clear? Cheers back. |
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30 May 07 - 11:44 AM (#2064096) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Dave the Gnome It is a very similar idea to various types of dart or arrow launcher I have seen in pictures of African and Australian hunters - While they are generaly a solid launcher it has the same effect - Lengthening the arm for a more powerful throw. I cannot find any pictures of the wood and elastic guns we made. Imagine a handgun shaped device. The 'handle' and 'barrel' are pretty straitforward but the trigger mechanism was quite ingenious. One leg of an 'L' shaped piece of wood passed through a gap left between the handle and the barrel. This was achieved by having a long piece of wood, say 1" x 1" x 8" a rectangular piece, say 2" x 3" x 1" and fastening them together into a gun shape by attaching the barrel and handle together with 2 bits of plywood, each 2" x 5". Like so - ============= Long piece Gap xx xx Rectangular piece xx xx xx======= Trigger All put together it is like this xx============= xx======= ..xx ..xx Ignore the dots - spaces did not work! ..xx ^ | The plywood was fastened here, attached to the first 2 ='s of the barrel and the 6 x's of the handle. The trigger was then free to slide backwards and forwards. Here is the clever bit. A strong elastic was wrapped around the front of the barrel and back of the trigger, held in place by tacks. This meant the trigger was held firmly against the back of the barrel. A short eleastic was also fastened to the front of the barrel. The stone was put in this and the gun was loaded by pulling the trigger and stretching the short elastic back until the stone could be held in place by the trigger. Released of course by sliding the trigger back. Easy? Course it was - We were kids when we did this! Dunno where we got the idea... :D |
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30 May 07 - 12:27 PM (#2064127) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Lonesome EJ When I was about 11, the TV show Route 66 was huge. I had a friend who had a playhouse and that became our corvette as we drove his playhouse down the endless open road from one adventure to another. "OK, pretend like this baseball glove is a bag of money that we see laying by the side of the road, and pretend like Davey is the bad guy who stole it and is looking for it, so we find it and take it to the cops only Davey finds out and comes after us etc..." Ah, those Summers that lasted so long that we would become bored, and out of this boredom we conjured high adventure. Yes, I think we really were different than kids today, LH. |
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30 May 07 - 01:04 PM (#2064155) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Little Hawk Yeah, it was a different world. |
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30 May 07 - 08:48 PM (#2064515) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: The Fooles Troupe A recent fad that is simmering here in Oz is the 'rubber band gun'. As kids we used to hook a band around the end of the index finger, take around the back of the thumb, then grip between thumb and hand. Relaxing the thumb let it fly - you could get rather accurate with practice. These little wooden 'repeating rubber band guns' have a star wheel, with trigger, you hook a bunch of bands around the front, and one each on the arms of the wheel as you cock it. Would have killed for one of these as a kid... :-) Actually, I did make one up out of thick cardboard when a kid - single shot with trigger - gee! old memories! Three layers of card, part of the inner one allowed the single piece trigger-release hook to swivel on a brass paper fastener, the rest of the middle layer held the thing together. "simmering" - well as soon as the kids start taking them to school, they'll get 'banned'... then very popular :-) |
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31 May 07 - 07:42 AM (#2064789) Subject: RE: BS: Back when it was okay to play with guns. From: Dave the Gnome There's one of them here, Robin. It's a good site that - Could be very useful on dull workday afternoons... :D |