Reminiscing. Anyone remember more?

[Ed Brunner]

I grew up in a house that didnt have a lock on the front door.
I remember when a penny postcard went to two cents.
I remember the smell of the gunstore where I spent hours looking at rifles and pistols. For some reason Hoppe's No. 9 still evokes those memories.
I remember when honor was the most important thing you had and when the words Duty Honor and Country meant something to everybody not just a few.
I remember every mistake that I ever made.
I remember the heroes that I have known.

------------------
Better days to be,

Ed

 

[pluspinc]

Imagine my excitement at age 14 and being a new shooter when Seaport Traders sent me my .45 ACP Webley and I found it in my MAIL box.
I carried a gun at age 14 in Minneapolis because it wasn't illegal and even took it to school at times because I could. I never thought I'd use it. I just liked guns and I was six foot tall or so that summer. In fact I took my SMLE to school to work on the wood in wood shop. In metal shop a MANDATORY metal shop project was to make a hunting knife.
I recall standing in the store to buy the SMLE for $9.99 and the cases were stacked to the ceiling and the wood crates leaked cosmoline and the smell was better than Old Spice. I forked over the money and no questions asked. Were are streets safer then or now?
When I was 14 or so we had almost 450,000 people in our city and anyone could carry a concealed pistol without a permit. In 1963 we had a total of 18 murders by gunfire. In 1995 with 100,000 LESS people and restrictive gun laws we had 96 murders. Something changed. What was it? The guns?

 

[Jim V]

Additional memories: Gasoline price wars, full service gas stations (the only kind at the time), the smell of the original Hoppes with benzene, just about every gas station having a small ammo display during hunting season, every hardware store haveing a firearms section, real 5 and 10 cent stores, no K-Marts, no Wal Marts and polio (a bad thing).

------------------
Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"

 

[Kingcreek]

I remember when my Dad's first shotgun became mine. came out of the case that Christmas smelling like fresh Hoppe's #9.
and when "Harvest" and "Hunting" were legitimate excuses for truency from school.
When late, We had to enter school past the principle's office door and he'd ask "How was the hunting" and "how are your grades?" If both were OK you could come in late again the next day!
the Imperial Gas station sold the cheapest paper shotshells in town (and bulk motor oil in glass quarts)

 

[Kirk D]

Mal,

Yeah, Rich's is still around, though it was bought out by Federated. And they closed the big, best known downtown Rich's. But there are still several of them in the malls.

Don't try to find guns there, though.., or knives, or camping supplies.., or even outdoor clothing! That was part of my memories, after all...

We *do* have a Pro Bass, though. Of course, THAT will be a memory too, one of these days.., given they've already dropped handguns.

 

[Mal H]

It seems that all the good stores eventually either get bought out or they sell out and they are never as good as they used to be. Rich's is a good example of being bought out, and Eddie Bauer is a good example of selling out. EB used to have such a good reputation among mountain/rock climbers and the like, now they have a good reputation in the hood. Several stories fom the newspapers say, "He was only killed to get his Eddie."

 

[Coinneach]

Meeeeeemmreeeeez...

Ahem. Sorry, didn't mean to rupture anyone's tympanums (tympani?). Anyway, go ahead with Part II.

------------------
"If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance."
-- Samuel Johnson