I ran across this pamphlet that was dated February 1, 1966. Maybe that’s a second or third printing, because it looks like something I would have read when I got my Daisy pump BB gun for Christmas in either the second or fourth grade.
I remember the grades because we put on a school play where kids with rifles were supposed to bring them so we could do a scene as soldiers performing the manual of arms. Where Miss Gade got her knowledge I don’t know, but she could have been a drill instructor for the way she had us slinging our rifles around.
I hesitated to post this because I didn’t want to get into a “guns are good” / “guns are evil” typical brawl. You are welcome to leave comments, but if I see more heat than light being produced, I’ll close off comments. The publication, it says, was issued by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc., but there are NRA references throughout it. It was certainly a more innocent time.
Photo gallery of pamphlet
The two-page spreads were too big to fit on my scanner, so I had to make two passes and merge them. That’s why some of them don’t exactly match up. Click on any image to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around.
Oh, yes. My BB gun was still in the attic. The crosshairs in the scope don’t work, but the gun still cocks and would probably still hit the target after all these years. Check out the rolled-up pants cuffs; some of them are rolled half-way up to the knee. I guess money saved on having to buy clothes for a growing boy went for ammo.
All I have to say is I hope those things aren’t being sold anymore. I know numerous people, including myself, who were ‘accidentally’ shot with a BB gun. Depending on where you live, they’re just another hazzard in young or the wrong hands. 🙁
Just reading this makes me want to be kid again and learn to shoot the right way and have fun with a rifle! Looks like fun to me!
Ralphy, you’ll shoot your eye out.
Think my Brother had a Daisey BB Gun when we were Kids !Not sure if he still has it or not ?
Daisy and the NRA have been supporters of the Boy Scouts and activities to inform and properly train young people in respect and proper use of guns and safety with guns. At one of the Boy Scout Expositions in Cape at the Arena Building, Troop 8 had a gun safety display and BB Gun Shooting Range to help young people understand the dangers of firearms and how to be safe with them. We also had an NRA Safe Hunter Course that everyone in the troop participated in and were certified.
I know this is something I would not advise youth to do
but in my younger years (the 50’s) my brother and I had BB gun fights. No one lost anything because we were so far from each other we could have caught the BB’s.I know it wasn’t very smart of us but it was fun. We were the Rifleman
I went to school in Potosi, MO. Back in Jr. High before we moved onto High School, we had to take Gun Safety Training. It was given by the conservation department and when we passed we got a card and certificate (still got it somewhere. We had to pass before moving on, as we also had to have 2 foreign languages and pass the US and MO Constitution before making it to the 9th grade. Most of us grew up very rural and had already been taught respect and use of a firearm – however it was good as it taught respect toward firearms not fear, but mostly it taught “responsibility”. This is a verb that is not widely taught these days – it requires action on the individuals part – I am blessed to have been taught in a AAA rated school district in the 60’s and 70’s.