Alexcabbie
Regular Member
imported post
For some reason today my reveries drifted back to 1964 and looking through the Sears&Roebuck catalog. I remember the ads for firearms very well.
These days the general-interst stores that still stock and sell firearms treat them like whiskey, cigarettes and porn. But oh, the ads for guns in that old catlog. Mainly the brands as I remember were Beretta (the Beretta Minx); Iver-Johnson, Remington, Savage, and Ithaca. And the language!
The Minx was described thus: "Fires five shots as fast as you can pull the trigger". An M1 Carbine : "Has about the kick of a pussycat". Also there were ads for "sporterized" Mauser k-98s and such.
Oh, those days. Back when the grocery store and the drug store were fan-cooled and not air-conditioned to where you could catch pneumonia in July; when walking into the pharmacy flooded your nose with the combined scents of medicine, candy, tobacco, and the paper and ink of the Mad Magazine which you would drool over until the lady reminded you that "this isn't a library, young man!".
I wonder are there still kids in this country who rip and tear as we did, who hate to stop because the rushing air would no longer cool our overheated bodies, who leave the house after breakfast on a late June morning and spend the day exploring the world and come back home to reality and supper. No, because supposedly it isn't safe out there anymore.
But wait. Isn't the fact that Sears no longer puts out a catalog advertising guns a good sign? I mean, guns have been driven into the margins of society as far as the antis have been able to do. Well the fact is that no matter where we kids went, the community - as distinct from the government- was there. People who lurked around where therewere kids were noticed very quickly -and often wordlessly - made to feel unwelcome. And the community was prepared to tend to matters if it came to that, and it was common knowledge. There were quite as many child molestors then as now, but back then it was much riskier business. There were guys doing phony driveway sealing and gutter-cleaning scams too; and they likewise fell under community scrutiny.
Now the molestor and the con man and the sneak-thief need only fear the community after they have done theirdamage and have been captured. The shield of the LEO was, time ago, a symbol that the LEO had been granted special protection and trust from the citizenry. It was a warning to the criminal that the LEO was specially protected by the community. Now it has largely evolved into a symbol of authority that the community pays homage to, hides behind, and largely fears.
Thecriminal meanwhile fears not the community, whose citizens have more and more turned over the responsibility for thier safety to "trained professionals". More and more the criminal element is trusting that they can do their dirty work in seconds, giving the minutes required for police response to provide an escape window.
There was a time in America when firearms were sold as casually as cameras, fishing gear, and pickaxes. The anti-gun movement throttled the life out of that day, in the name of "public safety". The curve of criminal violence has risen in direct proportion to thedimunitization of firearms in our national life. Public safety, indeed.
And so today I found myself remembering that old Sears catalog and the neato guns, and the creeks and woods I explored without fear and I swear I could smell that old drugstore aroma, and the grocery store and the earthy scents of carrots and cabbage and potatoes; and I met a family with several kids ranging from 16 months to 16 years. And I wanted to tell them about that day which they could not imagine, that day long gone; and I realized I could not possibly convey it. So I simply wished them good afternoon; whereupon the infant smiled at me and took the tootsie-pop out of his mouth and - as kids will - offeredto share. Some things will never change, and a lot of those things are good. I wonder if anybody knew why tears were running down my face as I made my way home?
For some reason today my reveries drifted back to 1964 and looking through the Sears&Roebuck catalog. I remember the ads for firearms very well.
These days the general-interst stores that still stock and sell firearms treat them like whiskey, cigarettes and porn. But oh, the ads for guns in that old catlog. Mainly the brands as I remember were Beretta (the Beretta Minx); Iver-Johnson, Remington, Savage, and Ithaca. And the language!
The Minx was described thus: "Fires five shots as fast as you can pull the trigger". An M1 Carbine : "Has about the kick of a pussycat". Also there were ads for "sporterized" Mauser k-98s and such.
Oh, those days. Back when the grocery store and the drug store were fan-cooled and not air-conditioned to where you could catch pneumonia in July; when walking into the pharmacy flooded your nose with the combined scents of medicine, candy, tobacco, and the paper and ink of the Mad Magazine which you would drool over until the lady reminded you that "this isn't a library, young man!".
I wonder are there still kids in this country who rip and tear as we did, who hate to stop because the rushing air would no longer cool our overheated bodies, who leave the house after breakfast on a late June morning and spend the day exploring the world and come back home to reality and supper. No, because supposedly it isn't safe out there anymore.
But wait. Isn't the fact that Sears no longer puts out a catalog advertising guns a good sign? I mean, guns have been driven into the margins of society as far as the antis have been able to do. Well the fact is that no matter where we kids went, the community - as distinct from the government- was there. People who lurked around where therewere kids were noticed very quickly -and often wordlessly - made to feel unwelcome. And the community was prepared to tend to matters if it came to that, and it was common knowledge. There were quite as many child molestors then as now, but back then it was much riskier business. There were guys doing phony driveway sealing and gutter-cleaning scams too; and they likewise fell under community scrutiny.
Now the molestor and the con man and the sneak-thief need only fear the community after they have done theirdamage and have been captured. The shield of the LEO was, time ago, a symbol that the LEO had been granted special protection and trust from the citizenry. It was a warning to the criminal that the LEO was specially protected by the community. Now it has largely evolved into a symbol of authority that the community pays homage to, hides behind, and largely fears.
Thecriminal meanwhile fears not the community, whose citizens have more and more turned over the responsibility for thier safety to "trained professionals". More and more the criminal element is trusting that they can do their dirty work in seconds, giving the minutes required for police response to provide an escape window.
There was a time in America when firearms were sold as casually as cameras, fishing gear, and pickaxes. The anti-gun movement throttled the life out of that day, in the name of "public safety". The curve of criminal violence has risen in direct proportion to thedimunitization of firearms in our national life. Public safety, indeed.
And so today I found myself remembering that old Sears catalog and the neato guns, and the creeks and woods I explored without fear and I swear I could smell that old drugstore aroma, and the grocery store and the earthy scents of carrots and cabbage and potatoes; and I met a family with several kids ranging from 16 months to 16 years. And I wanted to tell them about that day which they could not imagine, that day long gone; and I realized I could not possibly convey it. So I simply wished them good afternoon; whereupon the infant smiled at me and took the tootsie-pop out of his mouth and - as kids will - offeredto share. Some things will never change, and a lot of those things are good. I wonder if anybody knew why tears were running down my face as I made my way home?
