Don't bring a pistol to show and tell

[PUCKER]

Back in the '70s when I was in 3rd grade I brought my grandfather's WWII Air Force Flare Gun to school for show and tell, with my parents' blessing. My teacher FREAKED out. A trip to the principal's office ensued, nothing much really came of it from what I recall. Looked like the below, except not in that nice of condition.

[Keith B]

When in high school in the mid-70's, I had a physics teacher that brought his reloading equipment to school every year as part of the class lesson to show the make-up of shotgun shells and rifle/pistol cartridges. Lesson was on gun powder and propellants. He was an avid shooter and the President of the local gun club. It was a small town of about 15,000 and the county seat of a rural area. It was very common for someone to have a shotgun or rifle in their vehicle in plain view or in a gun rack if they had been/were going hunting before or after school.

[austin-tatious]

1963 - The physics science project presented by one student in a Dallas high school was measuring the momentum of a .357 magnum bullet shot from a revolver. The science project including the gun was set up in the physics lab, open to all students during the day. I cannot remember if the gun was taken home after classes. But no one - whether staff, teachers, students, parents, or administrators - thought there was anything problematic about it.

[Medino]

I was in a class, and the assignment was a "sales presentation of a product." My chose product was a 44 magnum. I was given permission to do so. My point is, the world sure has changed from then until now. Not long before 1987 it wouldn't be unusual to see trucks with gun racks in them in school parking lots. But today, a kid gets EXPELLED for having a BULLET. That's my only point.

Wow that must have been nice.
Recently my little brother got in trouble for having two rifles with ammo behind the seat in his truck (he is 16). I don't know if many other schools do this but they used the drug dogs that also smelled for gun powder. He didn't even realize he had them since it was during deer season he just forgot to take them out. He got 3 weeks of in school suspension (ISS) but got off about a week early for good behavior. The police officer said if this wasn't a small town (pop. 1891) he might have ended up in jail.

[MojoTexas]

What gets my dander up is when I read stories about some grade-school boy wanting to "play guns" on the playground, and pointing a finger like a pistol at another boy and saying, "BANG!", and then being expelled for making a threat.

When I was growing up, I had toy guns starting at toddler age. By the time I was about 6, I was following my dad hunting. I got my first BB gun at age 10, and as a teenager I was qualifying for NRA medals at Boy Scout Camp and earning my Rifle and Shotgun merit badge. Playing "guns" with my friends was one of my favorite games as a boy, and somehow I've managed to grow up into a responsible law-abiding non-murdering adult.

MojoTexas

[ClarkLZeuss]

The year was 1993, and I was in 8th grade, taking an outdoor survival class. One of our middle school coaches - Coach Smith - brought a rather plain looking black case to our class one day. He asked us, "What do you think is in here?" I had never seen a gun case, much less a gun, but for some reason that's what I thought it was, and said so. Sure enough, I was right. I remember his smile when I guessed correctly as he opened the case and showed us his handgun. He explained how the barrel and firing pin had been removed as a safety precaution, and then he told us all about how it worked. I was pretty mesmerized, even though it would be 10 years later until I finally handled a gun myself and changed my mind about how I felt about them. I credit Coach Smith for having a very common-sense attitude about firearms that planted a good seed in my mind.