Babyboomers. Did you have toy guns as a kid?

[maveric]

You know, plastic replicas of military and western guns and rifles?
I had many machine guns and the ultimate "Johnny Seven OMA".

Kids, guns and killing were acceptable in that era, breeding fodder for the Viet Nam war.

You just dont see that much these days.

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. I'm a Gen X'er and I had toy guns when I was a kid.

seems like around the '80's was when it started becoming more and more unacceptable...

[izzie]

5. I am I guess in this set and I had cap guns.

I am a lady and had horses so cowboys and all that was right up my alley.Funny I have never shot a real gun but when I was playing my sister and Dad used to do targets with his gun,

[NYC]

45. I had a cap gun.

I was born 1951.

[NoPasaran]

2. You bet!

I even remember having some that shot little plastic bullets... although Mom quickly confiscated the bullets, lest we put somebody's eye out.

[woofless]

76. There must have been tons of kids running around

in the 30's and 40's with just one eye. Why else would our parents be obsessed with such an obscure occurance?

[HereSince1628]

3. Hell, I was still a kid when Uncle Sam handed me the real thing.

It didn't work quite like my 6-in-1 invader gun.

[7th_Sephiroth]

4. i had an original megatron

megatron transformed into a really realistic looking gun, and i had those realistic waterguns, and THE RAMBO BAZOOKA water gun ON EDIT: Airsoft, gun replica, are becoming verry popular

[achtung_circus]

6. I loved my Johnny 7 !

and I had a plastic Thompson machine gun that made a clackety sound as the trigger was repeatedly pulled. We also played a game called "the best fall" in which we competed for best dramatic representation of being shot. For some reason I did not grow up to be a warped droid of a mass-murderer.

[soothsayer]

25. we played that! also, you would pretend to get shot by arrows,

hand grenades, cannons, stabbed, etc.

[maveric]

27. I also had a "Mighty Mo".

A small scale howitzer that shot these hard, round projectiles .
I nailed my dad in the head with it one time and almost knocked the poor guy unconscious.

[trof]

7. Twin-Holstered Roy Roger Six Guns.

I'm a bit pre-boomer, 1941.

[RUDUing2]

8. yes..and I am female, born in 61.

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. My son has a plastic machine guns and the sixshooters and what not.

:hi:

[johnnie]

10. Very few

Born in 64 and I always thought it was my father who didn't want me to have them. I just found out recently that it was my mother who said "No".

[ernstbass]

11. I had an arsenal of caps and cap guns

[bearfan454]

14. Me too n/t

[Xipe Totec]

12. Are you kidding?

We used to have regular neighborhood wars; Used slingshots with barbed wire staples for ammo, and Gerber baby food jars with black cat firecrackers as glass grenades. Who needed toy guns?

:crazy:

[catmandu57]

13. My two brothers and myself had an arsenal

all types, all noises, I had a winchester that shot plastic bullets, plus every war gun on the market at the time. I made bows and arrows to shoot the white eyes with. My younger brothers played the part of the white eyes and I shot them, until I got my ass whipped but good for it.
I had about ten thousand plastic soldiers, all shapes, and sizes, from the giant one inchers, to the large twelve inch soldiers.

[ElectroPrincess]

15. Naw, from the age of 12 and up, I enjoyed the real deal ... shotguns and

rifles. There's no better tasting wild game than freshly shot, gutted, cleaned and baked Pheasant. Yum. BTW in the rural plains of South Dakota we don't serve this beast "under glass" with forks and knives optional. However, it's always nasty if someone forgot to remove a little buck-shot and you get that nasty tart taste once in a while. Oh well, I'm a Lefty who loves my rifles and shotguns! :P

[MrSandman]

70. Another one who...

Graduated to the real deal after the BB Gun Wars.

[Bjornsdotter]

16. No...but I had baby dolls that were anatomically correct

LOL....no guns.

However there were some girls in the neighborhood who were not allowed to come to my house because (horrors) we had naked artwork in our house...IN PLAN VIEW and the dolls of course.

I was born in 1960...the dolls were bought in Sweden, but I'm guessing they were either German or Danish.

Cheers,
Kim

[B Calm]

17. Six Shooter Cap Guns, and a little later I had BB Guns.

BB gun fights were a blast. You had to wear several layers of clothing.

[trof]

18. You'll shoot your...you know.

;-)

[ElsewheresDaughter]

68. eye out....i love that movie

[Threedifferentones]

19. I was born in 1986 and had plenty of toy guns

Actually, I still have them all in my attic.

[BikeWriter]

20. Yep, from Roy Rogers six shooters to automatics.

;)

[NV Whino]

21. I'm a bit pre-boomer, but

I played cowboys and Indians as a kid with guns. My heros were Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Gene Audry and Lash LaRue.

I had an art project a few years ago: Chair a Tea. (Pun on charity if you didn't get it.) Decorate chairs to raise money for the local art association. I chose to decorate a couple of small step stools. One was titled Steppin' Out and decorated with top hat, cane and tap shoes. The other was titled Two Step and was decorated as a cowboy with hat, boots and gun. The gun was the problem. I went to about 6 toy stores and couldn't find a proper toy six shooter. I could find fluorescent green, yellow or orange space pistols that shot actual objects, but couldn't find a realistic looking western cap gun that simply made noise. The reason I was told, was that toy manufacturers no longer made realistic looking guns because they could be mistaken for the real thing. Yet they could manufacture "toy" weapons that shot projectiless that could actually cause harm. Go figure.

[Seabiscuit]

30. Then you must remember The Cisco Kid...

as well as The Magic Cottage, and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie.

[NV Whino]

39. Oh yeah, loved the Cisco Kid

Don't remember the Magic Cottage. And I was into cowboys, not puppets. Although I watched Howdy Doody once in a while.

There was a Flash Gordon thread a day or so ago. I remember Buster Crabbe both as Flash Gordon and as a cowboy. (And I think I misspelled Mr. Autry's name. He was no girly-girl.)

[Seabiscuit]

40. Oh, yeah...

I remember Buster Crabbe in both rolls. Clarabelle and Flubadub and Mister Bluster were my favorite Howdy Doody characters.

And no, Gene Autry was no "girly-girl", nor was he one of Ah-nold's "girly-men" either.

Magic Cottage wasn't a puppet show, but Kukla, Fran & Ollie was. Fran was a woman and Kukla and Ollie were some of her crazy puppets. They were pretty hilarious.

For one of my early birthdays my parents rented me a Hopalong Cassidy outfit, replete with two six-shooter cap guns. I grew to love the smell of spent caps.

I also remember listening to "Teddy bear's picnic" on the radio in those days.

[NV Whino]

44. A few years ago

I unpacked some long-packed boxes and discovered a children's poetry book of mine. Folded inside the front cover was a 1952 Life magazine cover featuring Hoppy. Still have it.

[Seabiscuit]

46. So you were a Hoppy fan too!

Cool story.

I'm afraid we're dating outselves. :)

[NV Whino]

47. Notice I referred to myself as "pre-boomer"

I liked all those guys in black. Hoppy was my favorite with Lash LaRue as a good runner up. Must have been the whip. Roy and Gene were a little too "good" for my taste.

[Seabiscuit]

52. Yes, the "boomers" came later. Hoppy was my favorite cowboy.

He didn't sing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", and didn't ride a golden palomino and have a cornpone side kick who drove a jeep called "Nellie Belle". He could scowl believably, and the black outfit completed the picture. He was the only really scary dude on the "TV cowboy" block.

Wait a minute... how could we forget the Lone Ranger and Tonto, kemosabe?

For some reason I'm blanking out on Lash LaRue. Was he that French guy who threatened to veto a resolution to invade Iraq?

[NV Whino]

59. LOL

Lash LaRue used whips instead of (or in addition to) guns. He was kind of a short guy as I recall and had an equally short career. I remember reading a "whatever happened to" article several years ago that listed old Lash as a down and out drunk. I believe he died two or three years later. Hoppy, on the other hand, started out as a drunk and cleaned up his act to be come the good guy in black.

The Lone Ranger was okay, but I was moving away from cowboys by the time he came on the scene. And let's not forget Red Rider and L'l Beaver--our very own currently-accused-of-murder, Robert Blake.

BTW, I learned a very interesting thing not too long ago. Both Trigger (number 2) and Topper were Tennessee Walking horses. Not what you would expect a cowboy to ride. (The original Trigger was a quarter horse.) I believe that Mr. Autry stuck with the quarter horse. (I learned this from a client of mine who owns a great grandson of Trigger #2.)

[Seabiscuit]

75. Hmmmm...

Betcha Hoppy never fell off the couch from eating a pretzel. He looked like a guy who could have handled his liquor - glad to hear he cleaned himself up before "suiting up". If only we had a Prezdint who could "suit up" without looking like he's in a drunken stupor (e.g. "Mission accomplished"). Georgie could learn a thing or two from Hopalong about being a cowboy, and well, about just being a man.

Yes, the Lone Ranger came later, but I had a little brother who liked him, so I watched along with him. Georgie's my little brother's age. Neither of them aged gracefully....

I vaguely recall the Robert Blake shows - plus Spanky and Our Gang (Blake was a little kid on that series).

I didn't know all that about Trigger - then again, I don't have any clients who own famous horses. :) As much as I poked fun at Roy Rogers, Trigger was a beautiful horse. I eventually learned to ride horses but never saw a real life palomino.

[timtom]

67. I recently started writing a story

featuring a big showdown between Lash LaRue and Whip Wilson (a popular knockoff of the time -- featured in his own movies). Hven't pushed to conclusion, yet, though. Hell, I don't even know who won.

[NV Whino]

72. Gee, don't remember Whip Wilson. n/t

[Seabiscuit]

74. And I don't remember either of them. :)

[timtom]

78. Holy cow, little buddy!

Ya can't fight in the range war unless ya know who the good guys are.

Permit me to introduce to you, Whip Wilson:

http://www.surfnetinc.com/chuck/wilson.htm

<snip>
Also at the same time Lash LaRue was gaining some fame cracking a bull whip in a series at PRC, so Dunlap decided to give Wilson a whip and make him a combination of Lash LaRue and Buck Jones all rolled into one.
<end snip>

So saddle up, podnuh! Let's go after the baddies!

[NV Whino]

79. Thanks. I Already looked him up after you mentioned him.

Completely missed this guy. Guess I was too into the men in black.

[timtom]

81. But, when all's said and done,

friend Wilson was just a cheap copy cat.

Maybe that's the direction I should take my story.

[NV Whino]

87. sounds like the right direction to go. n/t

[timtom]

66. On Howdy Doody I gotta go with

Princess Summerfallwinterspring. And Shari Lewis too.

As for Teddy Bear's Picnic, it had been an obsession with me. When napster was hot I got enough versions to fill up an audio cd. Versions range from 1904 (a military band version) through Ann Stephens' version (early 1940's and the theme to the crappy cartoon "The Teddy Bears' Picnic, that used to pop on the Disney channel in the 1990's), to Dave van Ronk (may he rest in peace), and some other surprises.

[Seabiscuit]

71. Princess Summerfallwinterspring...

was *hot*. Some time ago I read she "did" just about every guy on the set.

"...For every bear
That ever there was
Is gathered there
Because, well, because
This is the day
The teddy bears have their picnic..."

:hi:

[Seabiscuit]

77. "Teddy Bear's Picnic"

I wrote the above from memory.

Wasn't sure of all of it so I googled it:

If you go out in the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go out in the woods today
You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Chorus:
Picnic time for teddy bears,
The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today.
Watch them, catch them unawares,
And see them picnic on their holiday.
See them gaily dance about.
They love to play and shout.
And never have any cares.
At six o'clock their mommies and daddies
Will take them home to bed
Because they're tired little teddy bears.

If you go out in the woods today,
You'd better not go alone.
It's lovely out in the woods today,
But safer to stay at home.

For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic

TO CHORUS

Every teddy bear, that's been good
Is sure of a treat today
There's lots of wonderful things to eat
And wonderful games to play

Beneath the trees, where nobody sees
They'll hide and seek as long as they please
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic

TO CHORUS

[ohiosmith]

22. A Fanner 50 rig.

[HereSince1628]

23. DId that have the derringer in the belt buckle?

[hunter]

24. Great, now I've got a nasty ear-worm in my head...

Remember the television ads? A chorus of burly he-men singing:

"You take your Johnny Eagle Gun, You Aim, You Fire!"

I can still picture the face of that handsome seven year old squinting through the gunscope, determined to kill as many Viet Cong devils as he could...

My mom was very anti-gun, especially after a kid in our neighborhood got killed in an accident. (A few kids were just messing around in the hills shooting ground squirrels when it happened...)

Where I live now, playing with realistic toy guns could be deadly. There are too many real guns on the street, and people can be quick to shoot.

I once confronted some kids carrying guns who were painting on a wall, but I was scolded by my wife and the police for doing that, so nowadays I just slink away and call the police from a safe place.

Sometimes the police catch the kids, sometimes they don't.

[soothsayer]

26. Yes! no real guns to this day, but I still ADORE toy guns! so does

my godson but his dad is soooooo anti-gun that we have to sneak (but the kid squeals)

[SmileyBoy]

28. Hell, I'm a "Boomlet", and I had toy guns.

It was the 80's, though.

[Seabiscuit]

29. Does a water pistol count?

I wasn't into guns. I like slingshots and bows and arrows.

[China_cat]

31. No, but that was because I am female

and girls 'didn't' play with guns. Those were 'boys' toys.

[progmom]

32. hmmmm...i'm a gen-x-er gal

...and I played with toy guns.

I try to remember that when I freak out about my son's friends having toy weapons. I really really would prefer that he not be exposed to them, at least not at this early age.

[Solly Mack]

33. No. Play guns were not allowed in my mother's house

My brother could not play with such toys.

[bicentennial_baby]

34. Same here

This was in the 80s...no guns, never

[Jose Diablo]

35. Sigh, yes a beautiful pearl handled "Fanner 50"

Also a M1, a BB gun and later a CO2 pellet gun, then on to a 22 single shot and finally as a youth a 12 guage pump shotgun.

Then graduation was a full auto M16 plus a years exercise in killing little yellow people in southeast Asia.

Us early boomer's got the very best in training. We were the apple of our fathers (who were weaned in WWII) eyes.

I sort of feel sorry for those that came after us because I don't think they had the very best in educational opportunities.

[txaslftist]

36. I had a star trek gun that shot a whirly thing in the air...

totally cool except when it landed on the roof.

[seemunkee]

37. James Bond attache case with gun

Man from UNCLE attache with gun.
six shooters when I was real small
And those great zebra guns that shot the little erasures

[Throckmorton]

38. I did, but not many

Yes I had a few, But I really wasn’t into them very much. I never owned a BB gun, just toy guns. I was much more into my erector set and my 101 electronic projects you can do kit.

My two kids have a few toy guns, which their late mother bought them a few years ago, but then again, neither of them are very into playing with them. Incidentally, my late wife had a BB gun as a kid, and I have it in the attic with some of her stuff right now.

[Neoma]

41. We made our own wooden guns

& wooden Lightsabers.

[LDS Jock]

42. I had my own gun, but it wasn't a toy

it was a bb gun. I wasn't really the Rambo type so it didn't get much use. No toy guns though.

[LiberallyInclined]

43. No. but i had a .22, a .412 shotgun...

and a very powerful Crosman pellet rifle.

[bunkerbuster1]

60. .412?

Surely you mean .410, no?

I had toy guns but (like Ralphie) bugged my folks to buy me a Daisy when I was about 10 or so.

At 13 I had a 12-gauge.

Then again, this was a very sparsely populated part of the world, and honestly, I only wanted to hunt: I would never dream of so much as pointing a real weapon (even a BB gun) at another person, nor would any of my friends.

And my family was devoutly opposed to the Vietnam war.

[LiberallyInclined]

84. yes, i did mean .410 bore.

it was my grandfather's, and when he died my dad gave it to me.
i used to do a lot of "small-game" hunting- squirrels, chipmunks, and birds...up until the time that i had to look one of the birds in the eye as it lay on the ground dying with half it's skull gone.
i haven't killed anything bigger than a bug since, and haven't touched the guns in over 30 years...

[bunkerbuster1]

86. who are you calling a bore?

oh, wait.

[NNadir]

48. Lot's of 'em. Seems wierd now. My kids don't have any guns.

I wonder if they'll have them when they grow up?

[barb162]

49. yes; especially liked guns with holsters to play Cowboys and

Indians with my brother and cousins. A lot of westerns were on TV back then

[American Tragedy]

50. Well, that's an interesting view

I don't know about plastic weapons, but when I was in school a few years ago, it became kind of trendy for kids to bring in real guns.

[AntiCoup2K4]

51. I had a few

Had a Lone Ranger revolver, complete with (plastic) silver bullets and a holster.

Had some air gun thing that wouldn't shoot BB's or anything like that, but I would load it with dirt clods and shoot bottles, or my sister's Barbie dolls or whatever.

Then there was this thing that was like a portable arsenal - like a machine gun, grenade, and rocket launcher all in one. In fact it might have been pretty close to that "Johnny Seven" thing pictured above.

And I would just like to say, for the record that none of the above made me a gun nut, a criminal, or a psychopath.

It took the Bush Criminal Empire to do that.

[solinvictus]

53. Yep...

A plastic M-16, a toy Broomhandle Mauser, a Cadet bolt action rifle, a percussion cap pistol and cap Kentucky rifle, and a snub nosed cap revolver.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

54. Lots, but only unrealistic ones. Ray guns etc. (nt)

[retread]

55. Toy guns + kids = fodder for Viet Nam war?????? If that is true, why

did they need a draft?

[rug]

56. I gave my son a steel sword

[CRK7376]

57. Toy guns as a kid,

real guns as an adult.

[baldguy]

58. Oh, yeah.

The best one was a bazooka that my neighbor had. It just shot air, but it made a really loud noise!

A favorite activity was to pump it up 20-30 times (you were only supposed to do it 4-5) then sneak up to someone and set it off right next to their head.

[greendog]

61. Toy guns that sparked and flesh colored Christs that glowed in the dark...

n/t

[yellowdogintexas]

62. heck yes, I had the complete Annie Oakley imitation cowgirl

outfit with pistols and a hat. I had my uncle's old cowboy boots to wear, too.

once my kid sis got mad at me over something and took my cap gun and buried it in the corn field. I hope it did not dull the plow the next crop season LOL

I still have the boots, though. My mom had them bronzed as a gift for my grandfather, and my uncle took them when Grandaddy died and I got them again when my uncle died. They look really cool!!!!!

[yellowdogintexas]

63. a plastic coat hanger tucked in your shirt makes a great bow &

arrow in a pinch. Just ask my nephew! He stuffs the coat hanger down the back of his shirt and runs around imitating Legolas. He stops, hauls that coat hanger out of the shirt aims and "fires"..it is hilarious to watch kids make something out of nothing.

[efhmc]

65. We loved playing "cowboys and Indians" (gasp, We did not know

better, but at least we learned.) I also am from Texas and we played C&I on our horses, ponies. Hard to believe.

[Orsino]

64. A few...

...though I don't recall playing with them much.

[MrSandman]

69. Little older than baby boomer...

But yes..
and so do my kids

[Seabiscuit]

73. That makes at least 4 of us in this thread.

BTW, like you handle. "Sandman" is part of my e-mail address.

[Nikia]

80. My female cousins, now in high school, got toy rifles

One Christmas when they were little. Their father was in the military reserves and worked for the state naturual resources department so that wasn't really that unusual. I was horrified though when they were pretending to shoot each others dolls, which they also had received that Christmas.

[miss_kitty]

82. yes

cap guns too. loved the small explosive charges

[lonestarnot]

83. No. Real guns as a little kid.

[Historic NY]

85. I had the "Rat Patrol"....ones they even fired plastic bullets.......

but we learned that once the bullets were gone it was back to making bullet noises when playing. These guns were really realistic, worked just like the real ones.

[Dookus]

88. Yes

born in 1961. All sorts of toy guns. But not a bb-gun - that was forbidden. We'd shoot our eyes out.

[gardenista]

89. We had one, part of a "CowBOYS and Indians" set.

I always played the "indian" because I was the girl. This was my choice, because I thought I looked cuter in the head dress than in the cowboy had. I was right.

I never had an interest in the gun until I began doing "shows" on Sunday nights and started working up an Annie Oakley kinda number. It was a prop, not a symbol of power.

So was it nature or nurture? Don't know. I just know that even at the age of 4 I was worried about looking "pretty", and nothing else really mattered. Sigh...

[Bluzmann57]

90. a cap gun and thats it

My parents were and are progressive. They abhor violence and promote tolerance for all. So I, a baby boomer born in 1957, never had many toy guns. I did have a .22 caliber rifle however. I used to shoot skeet and go target shooting at a local police range. But that doesn't make a bad guy, and I don't have guns now.