Discharging firearms to the common danger is an offence, even if not a very serious one.
E.R. Punshon – The Dark Garden (1941)
It's a quote from a work of fiction of course, but here in the UK, the general attitude towards firearms does seem to have undergone a significant change almost within living memory.
Firearms have always been taken seriously of course, but over time, what we regard as serious can change, as our general attitude to firearms seems to have changed. Or perhaps our attitude has been changed on our behalf and behavioural psychology does work.
5 comments:
My father taught me to shoot on the grounds that "Next time the Germans might be Russians".
But, apart from that, he didn't shoot after The War. He had, I assume, had a bellyful of shooting.
Back in the sixties, at the age of 11 I was taught rifle shooting in my Kent school's indoor smallbore range. I was quite surprised to learn later that some other schools did not have similar facilities.
Too true. I had an air rifle and 2 air pistols when I was young - plus a BB pistol. It was quite normal. I can also remember when Boy Scouts carried sheath knives. I still carry a penknife around with me, although I'm not allowed to carry in public two more which I have at home, as the blades are too long/the blades lock into position. Not sure what to do with those any more?
Meanwhile, despite legislation, people are still being shot/knifed - probably more so than when I was young.
Maybe it's the case that our dads were using firearms for a real purpose during WW2?
My dad certailnly kept a serious eye on the use of guns, but I'm not sure that today's dads do the same - I hope so!
dearieme - my father was in the RN and as far as I know didn't usually have to handle firearms.
Vatsmith - our school certainly didn't have anything like that. We had an air rifle at home but it wasn't very powerful or accurate.
Man Beach - we had an air rifle and sheath knives we used to play 'stretch'. As you say, it was quite normal. Powerful catapults too, which looking back were probably more dangerous than the air rifle which was pretty feeble.
Scrobs - I'm sure that was something to do with it. Being in the RN I don't think my father had much involvement with firearms although he was once involved in pounding a shore-based German radio station with the ship's six-inch guns.
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