Buying a Gun For Your Son

My son, Johnnie, is only 12 years old but he has been pestering my husband and me for several years to buy him a gun. My husband had his fill of rifles in the army, and for a long time I told Johnnie that “I wouldn’t have a gun around the house. They are too dangerous."

Last summer Johnnie bought a pistol from one of his playmates at school and managed to find some bullets to shoot in it. The gun went off in his pocket, and badly burned the side of his leg but thank goodness didn’t actually hit his leg or his foot. Our physician made out a routine gun-shot wound report which was sent to the police station, and they sent a policeman around to check up on the “shooting.”

Stop right here a moment. You've seen these kinds of letters before, haven't you? You know where this is going, right?

Read on:

He is now a real friend to our family, because after seeing Johnny and talking with him, he bought us a copy of your magazine with a story on “When to Buy Your Son A Gun.”

I want to thank writer Harvey Brandt for that story. It has literally changed our whole lives and really opened my eyes to how harsh and unfeeling my attitude must have seemed to my son. He now has a gun, a proper .22 rifle and he is shooting on a boys team which is supervised by the Police Athletic League. He shoots well, and my husband has promised to take him hunting next year with a real rifle for big game. Things are going fine at home, and the rusty revolver he bought at school reposes in my desk drawer as a reminder—not a reminder to Johnny, but a reminder to me—of how serious our neglect of our son might have been, if the police officer and Harvey Brandt hadn’t knocked on our door.

Mrs. Jane P. Perkins
Los Angeles, Cal.

Yes, this is an actual letter. It appeared in the January 1956 issue of GUNS Magazine, now available for free download.

This is the world I grew up in (I was three going on four when this was published). These are the attitudes I remember.

Compare every event in this story, and the reactions of the people involved, to the likely outcome were this to take place today. I have never seen a more concise illustration of the gulf between the culture I was born in and the one I live in now. How many fundamental differences can you spot?

I’m delighted the publishers decided to continue posting old issues—I thought it was just going to be for the 1955 series commemorating the magazine’s 50th anniversary.

Be sure and read the other articles: Are Pistol Champs Alcoholics? Could Gunfighters Really Shoot? The Guns of Teddy Roosevelt...

Read the other letters. Look at the ads. That's a cool and informative article on the Luger! Did you know the Kentucky rifle owed its development to the German long Jaeger? So that’s the origin of the word “trigger”! And what’s this? Gun safety tips from Hollywood comedian/TV pioneer Sid Caesar?

Then go ahead and feel some rage at what’s been stolen from free Americans in less than a lifetime.

I also hope you give the current issue of the mag a try—and hope you like it well enough to subscribe, and maybe even tell the editor whether or not you think he ought to fire me and hire some real talent…

One more thing: I'm filing away the term "Jane P. Perkins Award" for future reference. It should be an honor bestowed upon mothers who love their children enough to see that they get the training needed to be free people. Compare her to the "modern" type, who would rush off to sue, and to found a local chapter of the Million Moms. God bless that noble lady, wherever she is.

Tags: gun