Fresno, California - 1957 -1962 I was on the school rifle team. All the junior highs and high schools had school rifle teams with regular matches. Fort Miller Jr. Hi always did very well in the competitions because they had their own backstop for their own shooting range in the back of the gymnasium. Our guns were stored on school grounds and we cleaned them and maintained them on school grounds. After school hours, private gun clubs were allowed to use the school equipment to hold their own matches.
Need your lawful-carry-of-guns-in-school stories from the old days
- Thread starter RickD
- Start date
Guns were not a problem in my school
During the 1950's I once carried an old Krag rifle to 7th grade for show and tell day in my rural NC school. Sat it in the corner until my turn came around, took it home on the bus (no ammo). In the lower grades, we always carried our cowboy cap pistols to school for use at recess. They were stashed under our desk during classes. During high school in the sixties, it was the norm to see shotguns and rifles in racks in pickups in the student parking lot. We never had a school shooting in my county. And we all watched westerns and war movies with lots of shooting. That was back before drugs, large consolidated schools, forced busing and the destruction of polite society by the liberal do-gooders.
During the 1950's I once carried an old Krag rifle to 7th grade for show and tell day in my rural NC school. Sat it in the corner until my turn came around, took it home on the bus (no ammo). In the lower grades, we always carried our cowboy cap pistols to school for use at recess. They were stashed under our desk during classes. During high school in the sixties, it was the norm to see shotguns and rifles in racks in pickups in the student parking lot. We never had a school shooting in my county. And we all watched westerns and war movies with lots of shooting. That was back before drugs, large consolidated schools, forced busing and the destruction of polite society by the liberal do-gooders.
Gary, being in high school in 1972 to 1974 would make you about 46 years old.
This is a quote from you from another thread (now locked): " Can't stay on now, since a rather nice smelling 20 something just draped her tee shirt over my key board. By! Gary"
Well, you dirty old man, you! And thank God for those evil pharmaceutical companies.
This is a quote from you from another thread (now locked): " Can't stay on now, since a rather nice smelling 20 something just draped her tee shirt over my key board. By! Gary"
Well, you dirty old man, you! And thank God for those evil pharmaceutical companies.
Mid-South (Near Memphis, TN) late 60's.
Bought my first auto-loader shotgun from a friend (Sportsman Model Rem 20GA) Walked home with said shotty, about 1 1/2 miles accross school grounds. Nobody even looked twice. Got passed by cops 3 times, not a word.
Took 12GA Rem 1100 to speech class as a senior. No problems, no questions.
Could you do this now? Not a chance. Walking home with shotty would probably get you busted for disturbing the peace, inducing panic, making terroristic threats or some other pure BS charge.
Take a shotty to school for a speech class? ? ? ? ? ? I can't even begin to imagine how much grief that would get you.
Bought my first auto-loader shotgun from a friend (Sportsman Model Rem 20GA) Walked home with said shotty, about 1 1/2 miles accross school grounds. Nobody even looked twice. Got passed by cops 3 times, not a word.
Took 12GA Rem 1100 to speech class as a senior. No problems, no questions.
Could you do this now? Not a chance. Walking home with shotty would probably get you busted for disturbing the peace, inducing panic, making terroristic threats or some other pure BS charge.
Take a shotty to school for a speech class? ? ? ? ? ? I can't even begin to imagine how much grief that would get you.
Poodleshooter
New member
1994- In a large city in MD. A friend brought in several pistols for use in a demonstration speech (how to clean a pistol). The pistols sat in the teachers desk till the speech, and were then returned afterwards. This was in a non-government school. I'd rather not mention it and get the school in hot water with the idiots that run Maryland.
Irony of it all-the guy is now a cop in MD. Yeah, guns in school must make kids evil
Irony of it all-the guy is now a cop in MD. Yeah, guns in school must make kids evil
I graduated from high school in 1964 and at that time we often had firearms in our trucks and cars and would go hunting after school. I always carried a pocket knife to school and did so in the first grade.
I know a deputy sheriff who says that when he was growing up his father had him stop by the hardware store and bring home a case of dynamite on the school bus. Can you imagine that happeing today?
An armed society is both respectful and polite.
I know a deputy sheriff who says that when he was growing up his father had him stop by the hardware store and bring home a case of dynamite on the school bus. Can you imagine that happeing today?
An armed society is both respectful and polite.
I owned a Universal M-1 Carbine when I was in high school ROTC in Houston in the mid-60s. Some of the other cadets were interested in seeing it, so I took it to school to show around. Nobody thought anything about it except to admire the gun (okay, it wasn't a GI carbine, but we were younger then 
). I passed the assistant principal in the parking lot, did a present arms, and he just smiled and saluted. Back then, guns did not have the big emotional load that the media, antigunners, and political demagogues have heaped on them since.
). I passed the assistant principal in the parking lot, did a present arms, and he just smiled and saluted. Back then, guns did not have the big emotional load that the media, antigunners, and political demagogues have heaped on them since.guntalkradio
New member
Mid 1980's, Hempfield High School in Western Pa. (yep, hows that for politically incorrect; HEMP-field... our athletic uniforms say HASH! for Hempfield Area Senior High) Anyway, there's a .22 rifle range in the basement of the school, still there as far as I know, and a rifle team. First day of antlered deer season school was closed, and it was not unusual to see rifles and shotguns in cars in the student and faculty parking lots. Never a problem (with firearms) ofcourse that was before it became the norm to erase kids brains with Ridilin.
-Greg
-Greg
I thought I'd bump this just for old-time sake given this pic of a highschool air rifle team...
http://www.irvinghigh.com/gallery/nov/mvc-696s.jpg
http://www.irvinghigh.com/gallery/nov/mvc-696s.jpg
Little Rock Central High School * 1970-1973
Little Rock , Arkansas
Firearms in gun racks , or in vehicles.
Students and Teachers. Dove hunt after class, Duck hunt before and/or after class, and you bet the guns were present on Friday's--heading to Deer Camp.
Junior high : air rifles and Ben Pearson bow and arrow part of gym class.
Boy scouts met at the church, head to local range, and camping trips always had something to shoot.
* yes, that Central High
Little Rock , Arkansas
Firearms in gun racks , or in vehicles.
Students and Teachers. Dove hunt after class, Duck hunt before and/or after class, and you bet the guns were present on Friday's--heading to Deer Camp.
Junior high : air rifles and Ben Pearson bow and arrow part of gym class.
Boy scouts met at the church, head to local range, and camping trips always had something to shoot.
* yes, that Central High
1960
Alexis I. DuPont High School outside of Wilmington, DE had a rifle club. There was a bullet trap along a wall of the rec room in the basement. We would push the juke box out of the way and open a long door that exposed a long sand filled pit with metal plates.
We had 8 or so target .22s on a Springfield 1903 frame. The school had the later more common ones and I had an early "classy" one. I took it in once to show it off. I gave it to the club teacher/sponsor and he locked it up with the rest 'till it was time to shoot.
Around the same time I hollowed out a book so it would hold a .32 Iver Johnson revolver. It had the firing pin removed and I'd had it for a toy since I'd been 4 or 5 years old.
I took it hidden in the book to school to show to my friends. The homeroom teacher saw it and gave me a stern lecture and held it for me 'till the end of the day. Maybe the fact that he was my wrestling coach and sponsor of the rifle club helped.
Alexis I. DuPont High School outside of Wilmington, DE had a rifle club. There was a bullet trap along a wall of the rec room in the basement. We would push the juke box out of the way and open a long door that exposed a long sand filled pit with metal plates.
We had 8 or so target .22s on a Springfield 1903 frame. The school had the later more common ones and I had an early "classy" one. I took it in once to show it off. I gave it to the club teacher/sponsor and he locked it up with the rest 'till it was time to shoot.
Around the same time I hollowed out a book so it would hold a .32 Iver Johnson revolver. It had the firing pin removed and I'd had it for a toy since I'd been 4 or 5 years old.
I took it hidden in the book to school to show to my friends. The homeroom teacher saw it and gave me a stern lecture and held it for me 'till the end of the day. Maybe the fact that he was my wrestling coach and sponsor of the rifle club helped.
This isn't even an old-timer story. In high school, in the 80's, a buddy did a report on how shotguns operate. He brought in 7 shotguns for the display. Not a single person in the High School administratioin had a problem with it. Could you image the reaction now? They'd have him arrested just for asking.
)
1969 in Walpole, Mass.
(between Boston and Providence, RI). I was in the Dramatics Club production and needed a rifle for a couple of scenes.
No problem - I brought my Ithaca .22 to school for about 5 or 6 weeks. On the bus. With blanks. Stored it in my locker, then strolled up the hall to rehearsal, carrying it in what was obviously a rifle case.
Fired same on stage in numerous rehearsals, plus the two actualproductions - in school, during class time, with school staff present. Never asked permission, and the only person questioning me that I can remember was the bus driver on the first day. Once he saw that all I had were blanks, he was happy.
Don't know what the law was then (and never gave it much thought); it is seriously illegal now.
Note: To my knowledge (and I still live in the area), there has NEVER been a shooting in any school in that town. A few years after I graduated, however, there were kids freaking out on Angel Dust that required 2 or 3 cops to subdue them, and this happened on several occasions. Funny, I thought that stuff was illegal..........
(between Boston and Providence, RI). I was in the Dramatics Club production and needed a rifle for a couple of scenes.
No problem - I brought my Ithaca .22 to school for about 5 or 6 weeks. On the bus. With blanks. Stored it in my locker, then strolled up the hall to rehearsal, carrying it in what was obviously a rifle case.
Fired same on stage in numerous rehearsals, plus the two actualproductions - in school, during class time, with school staff present. Never asked permission, and the only person questioning me that I can remember was the bus driver on the first day. Once he saw that all I had were blanks, he was happy.
Don't know what the law was then (and never gave it much thought); it is seriously illegal now.
Note: To my knowledge (and I still live in the area), there has NEVER been a shooting in any school in that town. A few years after I graduated, however, there were kids freaking out on Angel Dust that required 2 or 3 cops to subdue them, and this happened on several occasions. Funny, I thought that stuff was illegal..........
Floyd County High school in south west VA. 1971-1976
Real guns and starter pistols as props in school plays.
The F.F.A. sold magazine subscriptions for a fund raiser and some of the prizes for the top sellers were guns, knives, bows and crossbows. I don't think anyone sold enough to get a gun but several won bowie knives which were presented to them at a school assembly and they wore them on their belts for the rest of the day.
Stocks repaired and refinished in shop class all the time. Some kids just brought in the stock, others brought the whole gun to school.
As an attendance incentive, special assemblies were held every six weeks, if your school attendance was good enough, you could attend the assembly. At one of assemblies we saw the movie "Bullitt", at another "Coogan's Bluff", but the best one was a movie stunt man demonstrating fast draw, knife throwing and bullwhip techniques, westerns were still popular at that time.
Everyone carried pocket knives and I only saw one pulled during a fight. Some city kid had just transferred to our school. He was loud and obnoxious and thought he could intimidate us country pumpkins. One day during lunch he got into a pushing match with a local boy. He jumped back and reached into his back pocket and told the local boy that he would cut him. Before he could get his hand out of his back pocket, our local boy had his hawkbill knife open and in front of City boy's nose. The City Boy actually screamed and ran. Fight over. Never saw City Boy again after that. All other fights were just fistfights, no one even considered using any kind of weapon, that was considered unmanly and cowardly.
Real guns and starter pistols as props in school plays.
The F.F.A. sold magazine subscriptions for a fund raiser and some of the prizes for the top sellers were guns, knives, bows and crossbows. I don't think anyone sold enough to get a gun but several won bowie knives which were presented to them at a school assembly and they wore them on their belts for the rest of the day.
Stocks repaired and refinished in shop class all the time. Some kids just brought in the stock, others brought the whole gun to school.
As an attendance incentive, special assemblies were held every six weeks, if your school attendance was good enough, you could attend the assembly. At one of assemblies we saw the movie "Bullitt", at another "Coogan's Bluff", but the best one was a movie stunt man demonstrating fast draw, knife throwing and bullwhip techniques, westerns were still popular at that time.
Everyone carried pocket knives and I only saw one pulled during a fight. Some city kid had just transferred to our school. He was loud and obnoxious and thought he could intimidate us country pumpkins. One day during lunch he got into a pushing match with a local boy. He jumped back and reached into his back pocket and told the local boy that he would cut him. Before he could get his hand out of his back pocket, our local boy had his hawkbill knife open and in front of City boy's nose. The City Boy actually screamed and ran. Fight over. Never saw City Boy again after that. All other fights were just fistfights, no one even considered using any kind of weapon, that was considered unmanly and cowardly.
Calif. 1964/65
1964/65 Lawndale High School, Lawndale Calif. (Near Hawthorne).
I was a senior in metal shop. I had a 98K Mauser 7.92 MM that I had bought for $29.99 and was working on sporterizing it. I needed to drill and tap the receiver for scope mounts. I ask the teacher and he said sure, just don't bring any ammo with it.
I brought the receiver in and did the work in class.
No problems, no students crying or screaming.
1964/65 Lawndale High School, Lawndale Calif. (Near Hawthorne).
I was a senior in metal shop. I had a 98K Mauser 7.92 MM that I had bought for $29.99 and was working on sporterizing it. I needed to drill and tap the receiver for scope mounts. I ask the teacher and he said sure, just don't bring any ammo with it.
I brought the receiver in and did the work in class.
No problems, no students crying or screaming.
1962, Southwest Michigan junior high: We spent alot of time in a civics class discussing the civil war which had started 100 years before. My teacher knew I liked guns so she asked me to bring in a couple to show the class.
I had a old double barrel shotgun, my bolt .22 and a .303 British cabine. I took all three in wrapped in a grocery bag my mom helped me with. Went to the front of the class, took them all out and demonstrated what they were for and how they worked.
I walked to school with that collection and I walked back home.
I had a old double barrel shotgun, my bolt .22 and a .303 British cabine. I took all three in wrapped in a grocery bag my mom helped me with. Went to the front of the class, took them all out and demonstrated what they were for and how they worked.
I walked to school with that collection and I walked back home.