RX: "These people going on about gun safety regulations are always worried about small children. And adults, which are like small children..."Meanwhile, Sebastian flips out a little over a vintage ad for the Iver Johnson Safety Hammerless revolvers, the one that has the girl snuggling up with an old "Owl Head" top-break like it was a Strawberry Shortcake doll.
Me: "Except usually drunker."
RX: "...and you have to worry about them putting small parts in their mouth, too."
As I mentioned in his comments section, it was a different world back then; safety hadn’t been invented yet. Her daddy’s about to tell her to put the gun down and run down to the shops to get some laudanum for momma and a couple of ceegars for da. It’s a thousand wonders the human race survived through those barbarous times, no?
Nowadays, of course, the little girl could tell teacher that daddy made her hold the gun, and festivities would ensue...
I'm feeling a little sluggish, have her pick me up an original formula Coke.
ReplyDeleteThe poor child probably has undiagnosed lead paint exposure, ADD, MST, DDT, PDQ.........
ReplyDeleteAnd a flea bite away from plague. We all know none of the children reach adulthood in those times that's why we don't exist...
Yep, Iver Johnson was well ahead of any Federales "Consumer Safety Central Committee". God forbid you bought a Smith, Colt, Savage, et.al. Those guns were DANGEROUS! ; )
ReplyDeleteAs to your comment about the Israeli .308 over at Breda's, email on the way.
Nowadays, of course, the little girl could tell teacher that daddy made her hold the gun, and festivities would ensue...
ReplyDeleteYep, and then there'd be a swat team that'd come & shoot her dog.
I like the ad.
ReplyDelete"Papa says it won't hurt us."
Papa's right. You might hurt yourself, but that Iver Johnson revolver (or any other well-built, well-maintained handgun) won't hurt you by itself. Set it, loaded, on a table in the middle of the room, and it will rust apart before it will go off on its own. Hell, cock it, for that matter. Uninterfered with, it's safe.
The ad states clearly that the gun is not a toy, and can be used to kill.
I will fairly regularly unload my pistol and thrust it into a daughter's hands. Why? To remove any special aura from this everyday working tool. The only rule I clearly saw violated would be that the sketch artist apparently got muzzled. ;)
Just to be clear, it was the "absolutely safe" aspect to the ad I found a bit jaw dropping rather than being upset that a kid was drawn with a gun for marketing purposes.
ReplyDeleteI believe in taking the mystery out of guns as one of a multi-layered approach to keeping my munchkins from playing with daddy's guns. My 3 and 6 year old daughters are occasionally allowed to touch and hold my firearms and are sometimes allowed to dry fire them, with STRICT supervision, and after the gun has been unloaded, checked, and re-checked to make sure it didn't magicly sprout ammo without me loading it. I also take that time to talk to them about the 4 rules, safety, what to do if they see one of their friends touching a gun (run like hell and tell tell tell), and other things gun related. I know all kids aren't the same, but this is working out good for my kids.
ReplyDeleteI also occasionally take one or both of the girls to a gun show. The three year old looks for purple and pink guns becuase "there my favorite" (she says it in the most adorable way possible, I really need to get a vid of it). I always wondered what kind of person would be attracted to those pink and purple guns... now I know, 3 year old girls... gee, nice one taurus, charter, sig, et al.
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Back then it was tripping down to the store for some laudanum for momma, a couple of ceegars for da-da, and a pint of Gin or a bucket of beer for them both...
ReplyDeleteA small child probably couldn't cock that lemon-squeezer revolver. A toddler getting a hold of the bedside revolver and playing with it was exactly what Iver Johnson was trying to do something about.
ReplyDeleteA larger child, who could cock that pistol, should have been taken out to the back yard, or where-ever else daddy shoots, to be taught gun safety.
Is it sad that the one thing that popped into my head was "Hey, I've got $6 sitting around."
ReplyDeleteI had read someplace of the mother who "demystified" her carry gun by ALWAYS allowing her children to "see" it when asked (after clearing it using the fireplace as a backstop). The children rapidly tired of the game.
ReplyDeleteWV: rentsmou - In NH, we rentsmou for people to total their cars into.