1957

[BUGEYE]

I was 14, I was free to pick up a rifle, revolver, or shotgun, or flyrod, and spend the day doing boy stuff.
Today's kids, unless they have the right kind of parents, don't have that freedom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6bHs8Vm3EQ

[gene_225]

Different world with more people in it. When I grew up in Nebraska there was 50 miles of farms between Omaha and Lincoln; last time I drove that stretch of interstate it was all city. Certainly not better, but different.

[Land_Owner]

I wasn't allowed a slingshot, much less a BB gun, when I was 13.  My Mother confiscated any weapons and spanked my butt. 

I returned from four years of USCG service and joined the NRA.  When she heard, she was mad as hell and worked herself into a tizzy...UNTIL mid-Summer of 1996. 

Eric Rudolph, following the bombing in Atlanta of the Centennial Olympic Park, retreated to the back side of the Murphy, North Carolina mountain where my parents lived.  After repeated visits by the FBI and searches of their property and buildings, she called me and ASKED for a gun.  Go figure...bless her heart.

When the Left wants to ban guns and castigate those to whom gun ownership is a treasured RIGHT, they have no qualms about trampling the RKBA, the Constitution, creating "Sanctuary Cities", defunding police, eliminating prosecution for crime, and becoming the totally subjected Lemmings and Sheeple their liberal brain washing has produced.

[BUGEYE]

On my 5th birthday my Dad gave me a Remington model 33 with a cut down stock to fit me and spent the next 3 months teaching me to shoot it.
When squirrel season started (after first frost for us) I sat next to him to shoot.
I sat next to him for 2 seasons and then in the 3rd season I was allowed to move away around a 100 yards.
In the 4th season I was turned loose to hunt on my own and carry my rifle to school (one room) so I could hunt after school was out.
Went to the last one room school in Illinois.

[oldandslow]

In 1957 I had the right to get out and make a living as I had graduated high school the year before.

[Ranger99]

Not born yet myself

Lots of personal freedom back then
from talking to relatives and friends.
Funny thing though.
Not nearly as much crime and mayhem
back then as in 2022

[BUGEYE]

Not born yet myself

Lots of personal freedom back then
from talking to relatives and friends.
Funny thing though.
Not nearly as much crime and mayhem
back then as in 2022

Heh, back then any 10 y.o. Could blow away a bad guy if caught breaking into your house.
And most houses had at least one gun.

[Land_Owner]

...
Not nearly as much crime and mayhem
back then as in 2022

On the contrary.  It depended on where you lived.  Racial unrest flowed from Florida and my Jacksonville hometown.  A 17 y.o. neighbor's son, 2 houses down, was "joy riding" with three others during one period of civil and racial unrest.  From the moving car he fired a 22LR into the ground (allegedly) toward a group of black protesters.  The (alleged) ricochet killed a black youth and put the neighbor's son in Club Fed for most of his adult life. 

In a June 20, 1971 article, racial tension was in high gear:

The Florida Times‐Union, Jacksonville's morning news paper, interviewed a number of policemen yesterday. One said, “I think anytime anyone runs from the police, he ought to be pumped full of lead. If a person hasn't done anything, he shouldn't have to run from the police.”

Jacksonville was the August 27, 1960 place of "Axe Handle Saturday",

....a 200-strong racist white mob wielding bats and axe handles [that] rampaged through Jacksonville. They beat young Black men with impunity under the noses of police officers...

Looting, protests, beatings, murder, lynching, all of it was UGLY.  The NAACP, Black Panthers, and Ku Klux Klan were at war in Jacksonville.  I was spared from the everyday lawlessness by my parents and my "tender age".

[ironglow]

 June 1957..Just being discharged from my first hitch in the military.

   ..But prior to that, I lived in a home where guns in the corner or in a closet, was as normal for our home, as  golf clubs or catcher's mitts in another home.
  The difference was age and instruction. 

   I know basically, what Gene was referring to, but the idea of a "different time" doesn't explain it for me, since true values do not change.  The only way time makes a difference, is when people who formerly held conservative views...cave to those who couldn't care less about values and discipline.  ...And of course, that has happened in a major way in the last few decades.

   Different time... yes Gene was correct, in that so many have fallen for the glitz of this "electronic age"..when kids can't go anywhere without that "electric shingle" in their hand or pocket, just to amuse themselves.

  ..But of course, that is not so much that 'times' have changed, so much as people have changed..sucked in by the mesmerizing spell and addiction, that draws them into a homogenous mob.

[oldandslow]

The country's population has almost doubled since 1957. That fact probably creates a lot of what we see happening to society today. I see views of large cities like New York and Los Angles in movies and TV and wonder how people can stand to live crammed together like that. Night views with all the lights just make them seem worse. My little town is only slightly over 10,000 and I don't have any desire to live there. In fact I wish I lived somewhat farther away than I do. I DO NOT enjoy being in crowds.

[Lloyd Smale]

I was one so i didnt do much of anything but crap. But when i got my first gun, a 22 semi auto from grandpa, i was 8 and when i turned 10 dad said i was old enough to take it in the woods alone. It would raise some eyebrows today seeing a 10 year old kid toting a 22 down the street. Even had a case for it for my mini bike. I remember taking a buck and going to the gambles hardware store and buying a box of 22s buy my self then too. Even got change back.

[ironglow]

Another bit of nostalgia nearby..our local mini "Bible Belt"!  This bible conference, campgrounds, and summer retreat has been operating on a hill over the local lake, since i believe the 1920s.

  In the immediate foreground of top photo the houses at the shore..street running behind, are not part of the conference, rest in view is.
  The green roofed buildings are administrative.

  Lower picture  all green roofs..left, center height  Worship center (church hall) ..just above it, the sports complex..

  Back in the trees, barely visible..dining hall & events venue.  Years ago was once headed by the late, great A.W. Tozer..a legend in evangelical circles.  Privately held houses by the shoreline...with cabins and camping areas in woods

[BUGEYE]

Another bit of nostalgia nearby..our local mini "Bible Belt"!  This bible conference, campgrounds, and summer retreat has been operating on a hill over the local lake, since i believe the 1920s.

  In the immediate foreground of top photo the houses at the shore..street running behind, are not part of the conference, rest in view is.
  The green roofed buildings are administrative.

  Lower picture  all green roofs..left, center height  Worship center (church hall) ..just above it, the sports complex..

  Back in the trees, barely visible..dining hall & events venue.  Years ago was once headed by the late, great A.W. Tozer..a legend in evangelical circles.  Privately held houses by the shoreline...with cabins and camping areas in woods

It’s nice to look back but I don’t know if I would want to go back..
I like growing old with my beautiful wife and looking forward to seeing GOD.

[ironglow]

Another bit of nostalgia nearby..our local mini "Bible Belt"!  This bible conference, campgrounds, and summer retreat has been operating on a hill over the local lake, since i believe the 1920s.

  In the immediate foreground of top photo the houses at the shore..street running behind, are not part of the conference, rest in view is.
  The green roofed buildings are administrative.

  Lower picture  all green roofs..left, center height  Worship center (church hall) ..just above it, the sports complex..

  Back in the trees, barely visible..dining hall & events venue.  Years ago was once headed by the late, great A.W. Tozer..a legend in evangelical circles.  Privately held houses by the shoreline...with cabins and camping areas in woods

It’s nice to look back but I don’t know if I would want to go back..
I like growing old with my beautiful wife and looking forward to seeing GOD.

  Love that endures is a beautiful thing...  Treasure it now...and later on into eternity...

[Drilling Man]

  Only thing specific to 1957 that I remember is, my uncle bought a new Chevrolet.

  My cousin had to show me where the gas cap was, because I couldn't figure out how to get gas in the thing!

  DM

[phalanx]

I was only 4 years old in 1957. All i remember is fishing with my big brother and grandpa. Caught my first fish.