Need your lawful-carry-of-guns-in-school stories from the old days

[RickD]

I have been conversing with an F-rated anti-gun state rep (Brotherton) in Arizona who claims he can't remember the days when it was not uncommon to find students carrying guns to school.

I have been swamping him, and the rest of the state legislature with just such stories from Arizona and around the country. I would like you to post yours here so I can use them for this purpose and for an info-pack to be handed out at our pro-gun Gun Safety Forum in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon, April 21 at the Burton Barr Library. The deal is sponsored by http://www.saf.org and http://www.brassroots.org

Please name the city and school and years. Large city testimony, from places like Chicago, Cleveland, Philly, NYC, LA, and Boston, etc, would be really helpful.

Step up to the plate. Let's "share."

Rick

[bastiat]

There was a thread in rec.guns about just that - I believe it was titled "Hey old timers - tell us some stories".

You should be able to get plenty of info from that via deja

[bookkie]

Litchfield, CA - years.... Man.... you going to make me get out the calculator to figure that out? 63-66, grades 6th through 8th. Used to carry either my .22 rifle or 16 guage shotgun to school on the bus. Would leave with principal and pick up after school. I and a couple of friends would hunt rabbits or ground squarrels on the way home. (yes on these days we would walk the 7 or 8 miles home) Would hunt ducks, quail or pheasant with the shotgun. Litchfield is a very small school located 20 miles east of Susanville. Heck we had 8 kids in my 8th grade glass and it was the largest the school had ever seen.

Lassen High School. 66-70. Used to leave our guns in our vechiles on School grounds. Most would have pickups with gun racks, with their guns in them. Until I got my drivers license I used to leave my in my older bothers car on those days that I was going hunting. Even a few of the teachers and the principal had their guns in their cars. The principal was an avid hunter as were about a 1/4 of the staff.

Lassen Community College. 70-72. Used to carry guns to and from class all the time. They have one of the Country's best gun smithing schools. They also have a couple of firearms classes. My understanding is that these classes are still being taught. Don't know if they still have them, but the JC had a rifle range on campas and one off campas that they shared with the local LEO's for pistol. Carrying on school grounds other than for the classes, see highschool above.

Can't ever remember of any one being shot or even threatened with a gun on campus. Sure we have our fist fights, but no one even considered getting a gun out. Just wasn't done.

[Dead]

bookkie,

Did you EVER hear of a school shooting back then???? I wonder why you NEVER heard of them, all those guns in and around the school... Hmmmmmm. Now that guns are a HUGE NO NO Lots of school shootings I wonder???


The only story I have first hand knowledge of when a gun was LEGALLY carried on school ground during school hours was during the annual school Halloween custom contest. One of the Kids fathers brough their AR-15 for their kid to use as a prop (with prinipcals permission oh course). Mind you this was around the early 80's in an East coast state..... Image even having a replica firearm at school for that now.... Oh God!

[M1911]

1960s in Wayland, MA. We're just 20 miles west of Boston, next to Framingham. There only was one school then in the center of town. It's now the Town Hall. The Sudbury River backs up to the school. Our club's caretaker, Paul R., and his brother went to that school. They lived in the Pelham Island Road neighborhood. During waterfowl season, they'd take the boat to school, along with their shotguns. They'd hunt in the morning before school and in the afternoons after school. When they got to school, they'd carry their shotguns inside the school and give them to gym teacher.

M1911

[Oleg Volk]

Friend used to bring her .22 back in the early 1980s when she was in Junior High at a far suburb of Minneapolis. She and 8-10 others would stack their rifles in the corner of a classroom for the day, then plink on the way home.

[Monkeyleg]

1963, Greendale Middle School, Greendale Wisconsin. I was a member of the rifle league, which was composed of junior high and high school students. We shot .22's at a range set up in the basement of the high school. The league was a cooperative effort between the Greendale PD and the NRA. I would bring my .22 rifle (forget the brand, possibly a Ruger) to school for the league session after school. The range master was a high school junior or senior. I still remember his name. And I still have the marksman medal I got.

Dick

[RickD]

Keep 'em comin'. I will look into having them published on http://www.keepandbeararms.com

I'll have to go to rec.guns and find that thread.

Monkeyleg, what was the population of that town?

Rick

[DFBonnett]

Early sixties right here in Nazi Jersey, the belly of the beast.


They had a reloading club in HS. I used to see some of the guys bring shotguns in cases. They put them in their lockers, I guess, and went shooting somewhere with the club advisor after school. He was also the shop teacher.

[MBG]

Cumberland Valley, west of Harrisburg PA, between 1983-87. It was common for students to go hunting after school, and keep their firearms locked up in their cars. I don't know if it was in violation of official policy, but it was certainly tolerated.

Marty

[labgrade]

Bosiier High School, Bossier City, LA (no! the good LA) right across the river from Shreveport - 66-70. Shotgun, .22 rifle or .243 Win rifle in the '66 Mustang. Never "gad to" take it into the school, but car in school parking lot & showing your shooters to buds in the open = ain't no thang.

Our Scout troop was outa a (gasp!) church & taking a .22 on a camp out = dotto, no big deal, hell, it wasn't any deal at all. We were going camping, so duh! take a gun.

Shooting down by the river, right next to the (only, at the time) bridge leading to Shreveport .... & we walked along the road with rifles, etc. on the way.

Interesting too, our house shared a fence with Barksdale AFB (2nd Strategic Air Command - ya know, the ones with the nuke-capable B52s?), 4th green of the golf course was in our back yard. In the spring(?), the grackles would completely innudate the trees all around the golf course & I mean literally hundreds of thousands of 'em w/subsequent bird droppings = would turn the street white under the trees. Now get this. I forget the going rate, but it was worth your while to go out on the golf course & shoot grackles w/shotguns as the AFB would give you 4-5 cents a bird - was enough to pay for your shells & make a couple bucks outa the deal.

Can you imagine shooting firearms on a nuke-capable base golf course today?

Tear 'em up, Rick D & if you need a signed affidavit, drop a line.

[USP45]

My dad shot in the high school rifle team in the basement range of the town hall. Circa 1960... Auburn, Massachusetts. Also would duck hunt before and after school (though he probably left the gun at home out of convienence, as it was on the way to school from the pond.)

I'd hunt pheasant in the early evening after school with my dad. We'd hunt turkey in the mornings too. Circa 1990

[dundee]

Not about guns but, In my junior or senior highschool year I had to take speech class. One of the assignments was to give a speech about our hobby and bring part of it with you as props. I brought my Lee loader for 12 gauge shotgun shells. Of course I had primers, powder, wads and shot. I demo'ed how to convert empty hulls into reloaded shells. I don't remember any problem with bringing all this into the school. Grand Island Nebr. 1967.

[jimpeel]

In the early sixties I lived in West Point, CA and went to school in San Andreas. The ride one way was 24 miles. We would shoot after school on the rifle range and we brought our own rifles if we had one.

We would appear at the bus stop with our .22 rifle and when the bus got there we would get on, give the rifle to the driver who would check it to see if it was unloaded and then stick it in the rifle rack beside and just to the rear of his left shoulder.

When we got to school, he would issue the rifle back to us and we would go straight to the gym where the gym instructor would put them in a corner of his unlocked office where ithey would remein for the day.

After school we would go get our rifles and go to the range behind the gym and shoot. we had to get finished before the late bus left or we had to hitch-hike home -- rifle in hand. People would gladly pick us up and take us to town -- or sometimes to our front door -- and they never questioned why a thirteen or fourteen year old was walking around with a firearm.

God those were the days.

[jimpeel]

Although it was not at a school, Burbank, CA had a rifle range under the swimming pool at McCambridge Park. You could go there and shoot for $.75 and rent a rifle for (I beileve) $1.00 plus ammo. There was no age limit at that time that I know of and a kid of fifteen could shoot there without permission. There were instructors there to keep safety under control.

The range was run by the city. Wanna bet it is a storage area now?

[Jim V]

in Michigan. (I graduated in '60.) Surplus Mausers were "sporterized" in shop class. At least restocked.

More than one student ran a trap line and would bring their .22 rifles to school after checking their traps. During hunting season, most of the cars in the lot had shotguns in them.

I don't remember the class year but during a talent show, a real, live honest to JMB muzzle loading shotgun was fired as part of the act. A blank load of BP, of course.

During one of the speech classes, a student brought in an M1 Garand and did a presentation on it. Which was cool.

I did a presentation on Kentucky rifles with examples of both flint and percussion guns.

[LoneStranger]

Kansas City, KS/Wyandotte Co. area.
Believe 57 or 58 boy who lived up the street brought Japanese(looked like a Brengun?) machinegun to Elementary School for Show and Tell. When he went home he took it on the bus. Only excitement was everyone wanted to look at it.
Definitely remember when in High School, class size 2200 appr., the large number of weapons on the gun racks of various vehicles in the student parking lot.
In all that time only incident of student use of firearms was when Big City Toughs decided to start "Protection Racket" in Junior H.S. for lunch money. One kid got threatened so he invited the BCT's to his house to discuss the problem. The BCT's went to various juvenile detention facilities and nobody tried that kind of nonsense afterwards. I happened to know people on both sides.
Any other situations I will try to protect the ID's of innoncent and guilty cause its been a long time.

[SW 586]

1965/1966
Sonoma, California
8th grade
Homeroom teacher kept a starter's pistol in his desk drawer. When things got too rowdy and noisy in his class, he'd point the pistol at the ceiling and pop off a round. Things quieted down pretty quick because everybody knew what was going to happen next. The initiator of the rowdiness was called to the front of the class and instructed to bend over and grab his ankles whereupon he was smacked very hard on his posterior with a 3/4" thick x 6" wide paddle perforated with numerous holes to reduce air drag. The number of swats depended upon that teacher's mood that day.
I'd like to see an educator try these tactics in this day and age!!!

[Monkeyleg]

RickD, the population of Greendale at that time was about 3,000 to 4,000. It's a suburb of Milwaukee. I just got off the phone with the guy who was range officer (he was pretty surprised to hear from someone whose name he never knew about something that happened 37 years ago!). The league was part of the "Junior Police League." Activities included scuba diving, ham radio and NRA sanctioned rifle shooting. We had the option of using Winchester 52D's, which were kept at the school for the league members who didn't have their own rifles.

Interesting part of all this that I just learned from my phone conversation is that the police officer who started this, Sgt. John ___, later became my nemesis during my punk stage.

Dick

[Cougar]

I remember one time quite clearly when we had guns in our high school.

Back in 1974, towards late spring, we hadn't had any 'snow days' that winter, and were ahead of schedule. The school used these bonus days as a 'Activity Week' where you could sign up for just about anything.

One student put on a firearms education forum. He brought in a M-1 Garand, M-1 Carbine, '03-A3 Springfield, Colt 1911, and sevearl other guns. He did a fairly good job of describing the functioning of each, how to tell if it was loaded, etc. Really, quite a good safety demonstration. One of the USMC recruiters that was at the school that week sat in on the class as well. Even he was impressed with the kid's knowlege.

That week I also signed up for a day trip to a Winchester facility (back when Winchester actively sponsored shooting clubs) and tried my hand at trap and skeet shooting.

This was Westlake HS, Cleveland OH area, 1974. Our HS was just for grades 10-12, and had about 1000 students.

Monkeyleg,
I have family living in Greendale... They built their house in 1963, and my Aunt still lives there. Another aunt and uncle live in Hales Corners, another one in West Allis, and my grandmother lived in Milwaukee proper just south of West Allis, just off 67th(?) St. Small world, eh?

[RickD]

Ya know, funny thing is that I started out looking for Phoenix-area stories. All I got were stories from every small town in Arizona and around the country *but* Phoenix. Nearly everyone living from Phoenix is from somewhere else.

May I humbly suggest that you guys UBB this thread, or cut and paste certain stories and send them enmasse to your state legislature and selected federal Congressmen?

Don't hesitate. Thar's teachin' to be done.

Rick

[James C. Parker]

Back in the late 1950's and early 1960's when attending West Rome High School in Rome, GA I was among a group of Boy Scouts that would stop by at an Army Reserve Unit across the road from the school to use their indoor target range. Once a week we carried our cased .22 rifles to school and left them in the Pricipal's office until we picked them up to go shoot after school.

[bronco61]

Last October I took 18 students trap/skeet shooting during school as a field trip. Another TFL'er assisted me (Field Dressed) Students brought their shotguns to school and we loaded up the van to go out the road. The morning was dedicated to hunter/gun safety.

Being in Rural Alaska still has it's benefits! Will be doing it again next month. Can't wait!

[Byron Quick]

As a teenager, I lived on the edge of town. Grab a rifle or shotgun, walk across the road and hunt. My high school was about two blocks away. Every fall would see me walking past the school in the afternoon with a rifle or shotgun. The football team would be practicing. No one saw anything unusual. I'd be hunting within sight of houses sometimes. The adults would check to make sure I was exercising muzzle control and not shooting at game with houses as backstops Once they say I was hunting safely, they'd go about their business. Never had a complaint and the police waved at me.
Town of about 5,000 at the time-Waynesboro, Ga.

Oh yeah-the dates. From 1967 until 1972.

[Scott Conklin]

Around '79 at Linton Stockton in linton, IN. I bought my first gun...on the bus on the way to school. A kid had said he had an old double 12GA and wanted to sell it. For $5.

I told him to bring it the next day and sure enough, there he was, ancient hulk in tow. Now, at the end I'm gonna tell you what that shotgun was, but for now just the description: Barrels hacked off with a saw, big crack in the stock, held closed with two wood screws, surface rust growing in all the nooks and crannies, and so much slop in the lock you could see daylight between the barrels and the block.

I gave him his $5 and stuffed it in the locker for the day. Of course the principal had to see it. And the janitor and a couple coaches and a teacher or two. They all had a good laugh. I couldn't figure out why.

Anyway, my dad didn't laugh. He made me sell it back to the kid after using several choice words to describe it. So I sold it ...on the bus again...to some other 13 year old for $10. (Gee, wonder how I wound up selling used cars, eh?)

Oh, and the student parking lot was a veritable armory. Every truck had a gun rack and most cars had something rattling round on the floor. The teachers vehicles usually did too. We were supposed to ask before we brought anything inside, and sometimes we even did.

Oh, the shotgun? An early LC Smith with the screwy clock work spring driven hammers. Hey, I had no idea what I'd had till probably ten years later. *sigh*