when the world made sense

[tater]

I was listening to the JRE podcast with Aron Snyder, and it struck me when Aron mentioned locking his rifle in his principal's office during deer season when he was a kid in high school.

I had the same experience as a pup (i think i'm only about five years older than A.S.). The first day of whitetail season was an NMA (non mandatory attendance) day at my high school. I bet that on any given day in the fall that there were 50-80 firearms locked in vehicles outside in the parking lot and another 10-15 secured in the principal's walk in closet that had been converted to a lock up.

I remember one of my grade 11 teachers bringing his shiny brand new M77 RSI in .308 into class at the end of the day to show all of us little shitkickers how pretty a rifle could be. A bunch of us sat in that classroom for an hour talking rifles and cycling that bolt.

Going even further back, the first day of grade 1 our teacher walked in and said: "Now, which of you boys have pocket knives on you? I need a hand opening all of these boxes of books." Yeah. That's right. Little boys in school with pocket knives. I think there were eight or nine hands that went up that morning.

It was a badge of honor to carry a pocket knife, and a big badge of shame if you had it taken away by an adult for being careless. You were a "baby who couldn't handle a knife safely", and that was reinforced by not only other kids, but by adults. It wasn't bullying or being mean, it was teaching responsibility and accountability.

I know those times are long gone, but i mourn for all of the kids who have missed out on great opportunities to grow into adulthood by being given trust and guidance.

Who else here grew up being trusted and cared for by community?

 

[WannabeHunter]

Was never allowed a gun or pocket knife, for that matter, on school grounds.

But I definitely grew up being trusted and cared for by community.

Growing up in a family of 4 kids, and both parents working, there was no opportunity for "helicopter parenting".
Responsibility, accountability, and trust were the expectation. My older siblings were responsible for the younger, can't think of a better teacher. The older kids wouldn't childproof activities. We learned through bumps, bruises, and cuts. There was no curfew, just simply be home a dark and don't get killed. Many forts were made, random holes dug, and bugs burned.

We walked to school until an older sibling could drive. Then we still walked to school because she was normally a b!+ch about driving us. That's walking or riding bikes 2 miles in all weather. Dad was already at work and mom was taking care of my baby brother.

So from my perspective both our worlds make sense. And I'm guessing were not the same generation.

 

[elkguide]

I used to wish that I wasn't as "mature" as I am but suddenly as the world has seemingly gone over the edge, I am so glad that I have as many miles on me as I do. Sure feel for my children and grandchildren.

I never even locked my truck with my rifle in it and felt proud when the principal held my rifle one day and said that he wished that he could find one as nice as mine someday!

 

[sndmn11]

In Colorado it is legal to have a firearm on school property if unloaded and locked in a vehicle. 18-12-105.5(3)(a) It shall not be an offense under this section if:The weapon is unloaded and remains inside a motor vehicle while upon the real estate of any public or private college, university, or seminary; or....

https://advance.lexis.com/documentpage/?pdmfid=1000516&crid=9f57a1c5-acb3-44e0-85c2-1bd4920ad393&pdistocdocslideraccess=true&config=014FJAAyNGJkY2Y4Zi1mNjgyLTRkN2YtYmE4OS03NTYzNzYzOTg0OGEKAFBvZENhdGFsb2d592qv2Kywlf8caKqYROP5&pddocfullpath=%2fshared%2fdocument%2fstatutes-legislation%2furn%3acontentItem%3a5YWF-4W81-JWXF-23YB-00008-00&pdcomponentid=234177&pdtocnodeidentifier=AASAAWAABAAI&ecomp=y3_dkkk&prid=0d7ce4e3-65a9-463b-b9ed-43957c347cc0

 

[lyle_destroys]

Well what do you think we should do to fix it? There were some consequential actions that put us where we are today. Do you think that over time the individual being dependant on some small community has transformed into the collective being dependant on the federal government?

 

[Currahee13]

I also grew up being able to have a rifle locked in your car and able to carry knives. I think the limit was a 3” blade. I don’t see us being able to go back to that with the current state of affairs we are in now. I think we would have to get back to personal accountability and realizing actions have consequences

 

[canuckhunter]

To me when the world made sense, and this was long ago. A hand shake deal, was better than paper.

Now we cant even shake hands!!

 

[Currahee13]

To me when the world made sense, and this was long ago. A hand shake deal, was better than paper.

Now we cant even shake hands!!

Or use paper!!

 

[Gearqueer]

Where I grew up if you skipped school for “opening day” you wore a cubs hat and brought your baseball glove.

There are still ROTC rifle ranges moth-balled in the basement of many urban high schools. It wasn’t too many generations ago that the fate of our nation relied on the strength and skill of our teenagers.

All the same, sometimes I just stare at Terry Redlin prints and tear up.


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[ShortMountain91]

I can remember having a pocket knife in school and taking my shotgun in the truck so I could turkey or squirrel hunt after school and I graduated high school in 2009. It sure feels like it changed very quickly

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[AZ8]

Before my buddy and I had our drivers licenses, would latch our shotguns across the handle bars and ride our bikes about 3 miles through town to get to a spot to hunt geese after school.

 

[Bearclawbeav]

me and 1 of my teacher use to Turkey hunt before class. Several times we both was late for 1st period! we both had guns locked up in our truck about the whole year.

 

[Tom_]

Growing up in Western Pa. (late 70's) we had shotguns in our lockers during pheasant and rabbit season. We had to follow one simple rule. No shooting until the traffic left the lot. The cover around the school and behind the ball field was awesome.

When rifle deer came in, we all had rifles. Many teachers included. No one complained or thought twice about it.

Simpler times that are missed.

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

I got a Swiss army knife for my eighth birthday. It was in the back pocket of my backpack every day through high school graduation. We weren't supposed to have knives at school. Some of the teachers knew I had it, but I was a good kid, so they let it slide. Some borrowed it occasionally.

I'm trying to raise my kids to be good and responsible. I will gift them swiss army knives when they are old enough. But we will have to talk about why taking it to school would get them in big trouble because of others' fears.

 

[nodakian]

We didn’t give our guns to the principal, and we didn’t lock our vehicles. In fact, we took our guns into shop class to clean them and refinish stocks. I think we were supposed to leave the bolts outside, but being teenagers I doubt we followed that rule perfectly. But we also knew any teacher would destroy us for unsafe behavior. Accountability and discipline through fear has its place.

The principal drew the line though when my friend brought a live rattlesnake in a Mason jar to school. He took it away in the morning and gave it back at the end of the day, still alive.

 

[lyle_destroys]

Everyone, the baby boomer generation especially lost the mindset of personal responsibility which has had a trickle down effect on the following generations. You want a safety net? Well the safety net is the loss of control over your own choices. No more "woe is me, remember the good old days". Own it.

 

[Wellsdw]

My sister, now 44 has picture in her year book of a deer being prepped for skinning being hung from a pull up out side the field house of the high school we graduated from. No gun in the picture but pretty sure they weren’t going to clean it, with a letter opener.

 

[dtrkyman]

A guy I worked for a while back used to leave his .22 on the bus with the driver, hunted his way home from school every day basically.

 

[AgentVenom]

I’m probably the youngest one can be to remember the “good old days”. Knife rules was it had to smaller than your palm made easy for teachers to check thou I never saw one do it. Also guns were on the grounds during all hunting season and the rifle team/ JROTC could ride the bus with a gun as long as it was cased. This was in NY state. Columbine happened when I was in High School it changed everything seismically.

I remember the week after it happened at the lunch table I was sitting at the table with the wrestling team and we were talking about how everyone just watched these stick figure basement dwellers shoot up a school. Why no one rushed them baffled me. The principle came over to our table and said “That’s why I don’t sweat someone trying that here I don’t know who would take out the shooter first- the wrestling team, the JROTC, the hunters, or the Vet Teachers.”

 

[rob86jeep]

People change, generations change, what is considered "safe" changes, it doesn't mean it always gets worse...

I'm sure people in your generation also had "nuclear bomb drills" where you hid under your desks, rapes went unreported because women weren't listened too, minorities were treated even worse then they are right now, etc, etc. Picking out a single statistic from your childhood (that could have been bad but turned out ok) doesn't reflect on what we should be striving for as a nation.

I'll ask one question, how much benefit was it to have your gun/pocket knife on school grounds...? You maybe saved an extra 30 minutes of hunting time having your gun (insignificant) or nothing having your pocket knife (other than cool guy points).