On 2020-10-31 9:44 a.m., Gary wrote:
> dsi1 wrote:
>>
>> I didn't care much for the kids with their gun crazy child's
>> play - that can't be good.
>
> I so disagree there. Young boys do seem to have a more
> aggressive side than young girls. When I was a young lad,
> we all loved playing "Army" for several years. It was fun
> to do. And good exercise too.
>
> For Christmas presents we got realistic toy guns, hand grenades,
> uniforms, etc.

Those were for kids under 10. Older kids got BB guns, pellet guns, bows
and arrows. When I was 15 I got a 12 gauge shotgun and when I was 17 I
got a .303.


Best presents were authentic surplus store
> things left over from WW2 and Korean War, like real helmets,
> canteens, utility belts. (I still have mine).

Army surplus store were the best. They had so much need stuff. There
was an army surplus department in one of the major department stores in
Toronto, or maybe it was in the rival Simpsons across the street. I
remember bins full of Lee Enfield 303s selling for $5.95. I got a
sporterized one for Christmas and I think there were selling for about
$29.95 at the time. I have seen a few unmodified rifles for sale in the
last year and they are now selling for close to $900.



>
> The old WW2 movies and shows like Combat were fun to
> watch.
>
> IMO, it let us get out the aggressivness while we were young
> and doing it in a safe manner. Child war games.
>
> Then the hippy generation grew up and became parents and
> discouraged their kids from doing all that. Tried to
> turn them into peace-loving citizens from the beginning.
> Wouldn't allow them to play "Army."
>
> Big fail, imo. Not long after, all those young boys got
> a little older and started buying real guns and shooting
> each other for real.


Yep. We grew out of playing with toy guns. Some of us still have an
interest in shooting sports. I was in the reserves when I was 16-18 and
trained as a weapons technician. I find the engineering and ballistics
to be very interesting and still do a lot of target shooting.