Books you read as a kid that influenced your RKBA beliefs?

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bestdefense357

New member
Some of my favorite books/authors were:

Jim Kjelgaard wrote many great books for kids. Several were "Snow Dog," "Stormy," and "Outlaw Red." But my all-time favorite by him was "Lion Hound." For a Florida boy who had never seen snow, this book was fascinating. As in all of Kjelgaard's books, the boy hero lived in a wilderness in the Northwest, and guns and hunting and trapping were what kept him and his father alive. I must have read that book a dozen times, and still love it.

Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories take place before England banned guns. When Holmes felt it was needed, he always asked Watson to bring along his revolver. In the "Hound of the Baskervilles," for instance, as the investigation into the strange happenings proceded, Watson kept his gun handy. Eventually, he used it to help end the seige of the monster dog. Holmes has always fascinated me--I still read those great stories.

Jungle Jim Corbett wrote at least three books about hunting man-eating lions, tigers, and leopards in Africa. They are, "Man-eaters," "Man Eaters of Kumaon," and "The Temple of Tiger and More Man Eaters of Kumaon." Although these books have long since gone out of style, they touched my imagination when I was a boy, and helped teach me the value of firearms.

Anybody else have any books that helped shape their pro-gun beliefs when they were young?

Robert http://www.ocala4sale.com/bestdefense

[This message has been edited by bestdefense357 (edited February 07, 2000).]
 
I guess I would have to say Heinlein's juvenile novels influenced me the most as a child, including on the issue of guns. None of the characters in his novels shied away from having or using guns if the need arose and in one, Red Planet, a major issue among the students at the Martian school who wind up revolting against their headmaster is the fact they are not allowed to carry guns in the dangerous Martian wilderness anymore. I don't know if I thought about it at the time, but I wouldn't doubt these books helped shape my attitudes on the subject.
 
RikWriter, you just beat me to it! I too was going to mention Heinlein's writings, and that one, too, struck my fancy. I note in Grumblings From the Grave, as posthumous book of his correspondences edited by his widow, that he had to fight with the book editors and publishers over a scene in the book in which the granddad scoffs at the concept of his son-in-law going to the Martian authorities to register his granddaughter to carry a pistol. "Arm your daughter, sir, and pay no heed to such foolishness!" The publishers even back in the '50's thought this was kind of a radical idea for Heinlein to espouse, about a frontier colony!!!

Um, Methuselah's Children showed us a first glimpse of Lazarus Long, a really, REALLY old guy, who'd gotten to be so old because he absolutely refused to ever go unarmed.

There are others...
 
Well, that book The Best Defense by Robert Waters is pretty good. ;)

I've also read More Guns, Less Crime, although all the statistical stuff is pretty dry.

Others:
Politically Correct Guns
Stopping Power; Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns
Politically Correct Guns : Please Don't Rob or Kill Me

On order: Unintended Consequences


Crap, I just read the topic title again, "books read as a KID" DohhhhH! :o

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"Ray guns don't vaporize Zorbonians, Zorbonians vaporize Zorbonians" The Far Side

[This message has been edited by jcoyoung (edited February 07, 2000).]
 
All the Heinlein stuff, of course. Also the Weapons Shop of Ishar, by A.E. van Vogt, who passed last week; a Heinlein contemporary.

I was a serious military history student in grade school, primarily WWII and Napoleonic. You learn enough about Hitler and Stalin, and you're not going to let anyone mess with your guns. Especially if you also understand anything at all about gun control attempts by King George III and his buddies, and how they were thwarted ;)
 
I am taking notes on this thread so that I'll have some ideas of what to stock in my classroom library the next time they throw a chunk of budget money my way! The Heinlein should be a big hit.

My students are sorely in need of some *positive* representations of the use of firearms. Right now their entire concept is mired in rap videos and tales from the hood. As always, I try to enlighten them to the idea that their world does not end at the edge of the projects. :mad:

Keep the titles coming....I will pass them along to the kids!

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*quack*
 
Hey duck hunt! Welcome to TFL!

You know, the folks around here are so nice, I'd be surprised if someone doesn't offer to send a few of these books your way if you ask and provide a bit more info ...

Regards from AZ
 
I always liked adventure stories as a kid, from Sherlock Holmes to Hemmingway to Mark Twain and the Pulps, you know, Doc Savage, Tarzan and the Shadow. Detective fiction soon followed, (the good the bad and the just plain awful)and while I never really noticed the gun flaws in the old ones.. some new writers really make serious errors.

Then again the old writers weren't relying on "gun talk" to sell the books the way writers are today. Now you can buy a book (like the mack bolan and death lands series) that are very thin on plot, very pro rbka, and have about as much substanance as the average potato chip. VERY humerous that in one of those Death Lands books they act like 200 yards is out of the RANGE of a high powered and SCOPED rifle (unless you are an "Expert" HAH!!) AND at that range a VEST will stop a rifle round.

So i guess I got my rtkba from my dad, or westerns, or Hemmingway.. I'm certain it wasn't from trashy Mack Bolan/Remo Williams vigilante fare.

Good books/stories to read to kids:

Watership Down (Richard Adams)(teaches you about self determination, bucking the system, fighting for what's right, etc etc)

20,000 Leauges Under the Sea. Jules Verne. Just because its one of the coolest adventure stories ever.. also contains very contemporary ecological ideas.

Farenhiet 451 (bradbury) Shows kids that ideas are indeed dangerous.. and therefore should NEVER be outlawed. Read voraciously. ;)

Huckleberry Finn: (twain) Ok the language can be rough, but its a great story about america.

Anything ever written by Poe.

"the old man and the sea" Hemmingway. the BEST fishing story EVER written. The basis for ALL "you should have seen the one that got away" stories. You can teach a kid that lofty words aren't needed to get your point across.. and that somtimes the road of life is not about the destination, but the journey.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

Dr.Rob
 
The importance of Heinlein on a generation cannot be diminished. Here's a guy whose characters are masters(and mistresses) of their fate,and while never guilty of braggadacio, are pure D bad to mess with.

RAH was a SF writer for one simple reason. It gave him the scope and canvas to post his views and we're the better for that.

Quotes:

"An armed society is a polite society".

"Monarchy is based on the idea that one man is smarter than one million men".

"Democracy is based on the idea that one million men are smarter than one man.Huh, that one doesn't scan either".

"Sin? Sin is cruelty and injustice,all the rest is just tribal custom".

"Beware of strong drink, it can make you shoot as taz collectors, and miss".

"In 2000 years, I've never seen a genuine, adult,buck pacifist out past where the streetlights end. They inhabit more gentle areas".

A human being must be able to take orders, give orders, build a house, raise a child, set a bone,lead a counterattack, nurse the sick,comfort the dying, live honorably and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects".
 
I thought I was up on my author's, but who is this Heinlein? Sounds interesting.
As far as book's I read a lot of them in elementary (The teacher knew I wasnt smart but loved books so she let me read as a grade, she was a VERY nice lady)
I'd have to recomend (again) 'Watership down'. Puts rabbits in a whole other perspective, and Bigwig makes a nice hero.
'Enders Game' was another favorite as well as the series surounding it. It has a lot of action and teaches you a lot.
I dont know if they actually shaped my gun beliefs (I was the little kid asking my mother if I set a gun on the counter and left it there if it would hurt anyone just to prove my point that guns never hurt people) But they did influence me greatly.
I just woke up so I cant remember to many other books at the moment. I'll post again if they come to me....

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Freedom by its self is just a word. To have freedom we must protect our rights to be free.
 
Louis L'Amour, just about read everything he wrote. All Great! Sure do miss him. I got some real funny notions about things like "Self-reliance" from him.

Jim Kjelgaard was one of my favorites as well.

Not much about guns, "Where the Red Fern Grows" was the first novel I ever read (in 3rd grade, teacher told me I couldn't ;)), and It's still one of my absolute favorites. I've re-read it 7 or 8 times since, and it still tears me up every time.
 
Tank Girl:

Robert A. Heinlein is one of the greatest science fiction writers, ever. Period. Right up there with Asimov and --- well, I'm not sure if I can think of an "and".

As for titles, Starship Troopers is a good one (much different from the movie), and the whole Lazarus Long series, which is where a lot of the quotes above from Dave came from, are good. I think titles there would be Time Enough for Love and Methuselah's Children, among others. Stranger in a Strange Land is a classic.
 
CONAN series by the one and only Robert E. Howard. I know that they don't use guns, but the sword in the hands of Conan was the weapon of choice in his mythical era. I remember the times that a murderer tried to sneek up on Conan while he was sleeping. Conan slept so light that any faint noise out of place awoke him immediately. At the right moment, he'd spring up w/cat-like speed and agility, and sever the head of the BG while streams of bl..........well....you get the idea. Sorry. The fight scenes were quite graphic. To this day, I am a VERY light sleeper. I was once jumped in my sleep by 3 unarmed guys. I'm glad that they were not armed at the time. I'd hate to have to clean up all of that blood. Esp if it were my own. ;)

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"But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." -Jesus Christ (Luke 22:36, see John 3:15-18)
 
I'll second Starship Troopers. Don't let the crap movie fool you. I can imagine the producers saying, "Those armored suits would be expensive to do. I know! We'll just put football helmets on 'em and no one will notice the difference!"

Anyway, the book is excellent not so much from a RKBA point of view, but rather from the point of the relationship between the citizen and state. Oh yeah and there's action too, don't worry.
 
I guess my present incarnation includes bookworm; I've read all the above listed authors. Add in Kipling, Pournelle, S.M. Stirling, London, Mencken. Donald Hamilton's "Matt Helm" series is fun, as are his other books.

Hmmmm. Few of these folks have much respect for government.

I highly recommend anything by Dean Ing.

My early reading was mostly the westerns. Zane Grey, Gene Cunningham, E.M. Rhodes. And Max Brand. As well as my folks' Book of the Month stuff. And everything in the school libraries.

So with those books, and growing up with guns as tools, I just take it for granted that RKBA is part of "my world".

In my world, Trespassers Beware!

FWIW, Art
 
Tank Girl!!

I am amazed at your school system! Heinlein was one of the BIG names in Science Fiction.

His earlier work reflected a military man's outlook, writing about individual competence and responsibility. Among other items already mentioned, he posits in Star Ship Trooper that people should serve in the military to be allowed to be citizens and vote.

Heinlein's last book or two were more involved with sexual identity and hinted at a dirty old man coming out of the closet, or maybe just tired of a pure, upright life. Like my daughter said "I'm tired of being a
Goody Two Shoes."

However, Heinlein's concepts of individual freedom, responsibility, independence and supportive attitude towards others definitely made me aware of the need to understand what freedom and rights are and the need to defend them.
 
Johnny Tremain.
It's the story of an apprentice silver smith in the months just prior to the start of the revolutionary war. He gets to meet and listen to many of the key people of the time and the reasons for opposing the Crown. He is injured in an accident and is unable to take up arms. His closet friend goes to fight the british and is killed on Lexington Green. It is the death of his friend that convinces him to have a surgeon repair his hand, knowing that while he will never be able to work with silver again, he will be able to take up and use a rifle in the revolution.

While this is definitly a kids book (read it the first time back in 1964) I have read it many times since then. It is a story about courage, not just Tremains, but all the colonists who took up arms.
 
Gotta go along with the suggestion for Heinlein.

When I turned 12 or so my Dad took me to the base library and showed me to the Heinlein books and said "OK, Here is the good stuff"

As far as gun themes "Rocket Ship Galileo" is not one of his best known juveniles but guns are a big theme. His books also emphasized the importance of edged weapons.

I am just waiting for his prediction that men will switch to kilts to allow for more concealment possibilities to come true. ;)
 
I can only remember one book that impressed me as a youth, the ability, and the need to defend myself from evil people, and their ways. That book was the Bible, and I was read many passages, and stories while in Sunday School.
I especially remember the story of David and Goliath. And how David, with his sling and stones, felled the mighty Goliath. David accomplished this by constantly practicing his skill with the sling.

Well, you know the story too.

Actually, another book I'm very fond of is The Odyssey, by Homer. I especially remember the tale of the Trojan Horse. How very symbolic it was, and is today. It's as if we're reliving those epic days, isn't it?

Thanks for the refreshing journey into my carefree childhood! :) I don't get to do that very often.

Best Regards,
Don

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The most foolish mistake we could make would be to allow the subjected people to carry arms; history shows that all conquerers who have allowed their subjected people to carry arms have prepared their own fall.
Adolf Hitler

[This message has been edited by Donny (edited February 07, 2000).]
 
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