Bt Doctur 188 Posted October 21, 2012 All of this takes place between 1962 (12) and 1968 (18). Most of it in Sayreville NJ. No FID, no case, no anything. Sayreville Police officers on patrol saying "Just be Careful" Walking down the street to the Crossman Plant to shoot rats with a .22 Hunting with a 20 Ga ithaca 37 carrying it in the open on Washington Rd to the woods Plinkin at the pond called the "BA" and "The 50 Footer" Carrying the 22 and a brick of ammo on my bicycle to the "Madison Dump to" shoot rats. Now you cant even handel a gun without paperwork.Even Sears dosent sell guns anymore. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RubberBullets 65 Posted October 21, 2012 All of this takes place between 1962 (12) and 1968 (18). Most of it in Sayreville NJ. No FID, no case, no anything.Sayreville Police officers on patrol saying "Just be Careful" Walking down the street to the Crossman Plant to shoot rats with a .22 Hunting with a 20 Ga ithaca 37 carrying it in the open on Washington Rd to the woods Plinkin at the pond called the "BA" and "The 50 Footer" Carrying the 22 and a brick of ammo on my bicycle to the "Madison Dump to" shoot rats. Now you cant even handel a gun without paperwork.Even Sears dosent sell guns anymore. Sears sold guns? Sad but true I guess. The best I can recall from my youth was kmart scaling down their sporting goods to only bikes and fishing Then again I wasnt even a concept in 68. Its amazing how much can be altered or forcefully modified over the course of a generation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Purple Patrick 638 Posted October 21, 2012 I have a shotgun my grandfather bought stamped sears and robuck! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bt Doctur 188 Posted October 21, 2012 After WW II my dad got his from the sears store in perth amboy ,even "Two Guys from Harrison" (Rt 18 East Brunswick, Rt 9 woodbridge, RT 1 Milltown sold guns) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soju 153 Posted October 21, 2012 Not just NJ, but the entire country. Scratch that, the entire civilized world. And you don't even have to go that far back either. Just the difference between the 80's and 90's is asinine. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diamondd817 823 Posted October 21, 2012 The best part is, the only people safer now are the criminals. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FLHX 1 Posted October 21, 2012 I used to sell guns back in 1985 at the K-mart in Howell. We only sold rifles but we sold them. The were in a locked in a closet in the backroom and we had a few in the showcase behind the counter, many people had the keys to the closet and the showcase. I had the keys and I was just a regular employee. I think I filled out one piece of paper and no call to NICS if I remember correctly, that was a long time ago so Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaiser7 33 Posted October 21, 2012 Friend of mine has a semi-auto sears shotgun, I forget who manufactured it, but it's from the 60s, and damn, it's one hell of a gun. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BarkNBite 15 Posted October 21, 2012 My first day I entered High School here in NJ. I saw an older student putting something in his locker that looked like a rifle case........As my dad took me to shoot .22's once in a while I knew what it was but I asked him anyway.....he said.....don't you know we have a rifle team here at school......didn't even phase me at the time......NOW......................Geeezzzzz. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matty 810 Posted October 21, 2012 Liberals happened Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaiser7 33 Posted October 21, 2012 Liberals happened Haha, I love when they complain when groups like homosexuals are disenfranchised---and they are--- but the libs don't have any issue trampling our rights... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
halbautomatisch 60 Posted October 21, 2012 I remember Kmart selling rifles and shotguns, I used to check the flyer to see what ammo they had on sale. How about Service Merchandise, anyone remember that? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
71ragtopgoat 23 Posted October 22, 2012 I was in Rifle club(school) in the 7th grade. That was 1980. Now the old town is gun free and crime and blight ridden. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Candide 0 Posted October 22, 2012 I have a remington nylon 66 that was a christmas present for me when I was approx 13. It was bought in the Howell Kmart actually. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Midwest 28 Posted October 22, 2012 Reading stories here and elsewhere before 1966 FID and 1968 GCA . Firearms used to be sold in hardware stores, gas stations, regular department stores, mail order, Sears by catalog and at the store. Rifles were bought as easy as a hammer. On another forum, someone about 16 and living in New York City in the early 60's used to take his rifle on the bus with him and took it to the range and no one batted an eye. Stories abound about kids taking their rifles to school in order to shoot after school. Schools had Rod and Gun clubs back in the day. One popular site even had a long running thread of old ads of firearms available by mail order before 1968 GCA. All that went out the window along with the milkman .... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerseyMike24 2 Posted October 22, 2012 My high school still has a rifle team that travels throughout the northeast to go on competitions. I was part of it 6 years ago. It was part of the marine Jrotc program. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tactical Turtle 11 Posted October 22, 2012 ^^^ i did afjrotc in high school i couldnt even get a paintball team haha. Cool thst ur jrotc let yah. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt1751 2 Posted October 22, 2012 When i was a teenager in the 80's we use to walk around with our Pellet Guns and no one even thought twice about it. We were always safe and never did nothing stupid with them. I even bought a shotgun on a class trip to a sportsman show my senior year in high school. Brought it back on the bus with no issues. If I were to do that today I'd be in handcuffs. Why are so many people affraid of guns now. What changed in the last 25 years. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maksim 1,504 Posted October 22, 2012 Walmart still sells guns in some stores in free america. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TK421 2 Posted October 22, 2012 When i was a teenager in the 80's we use to walk around with our Pellet Guns and no one even thought twice about it. We were always safe and never did nothing stupid with them. I even bought a shotgun on a class trip to a sportsman show my senior year in high school. Brought it back on the bus with no issues. If I were to do that today I'd be in handcuffs. Why are so many people affraid of guns now. What changed in the last 25 years. I grew up in Jefferson Township 7-11 and Bloomfield 11-18. My father gave me a lever action BB gun when I was 9 (1978) and a tube fed semi-auto .22LR when I was 14 (1983). I used to shoot the BB gun in our backyard. I never did anything dumb, except shoot at a squirrel climbing the big oak tree in in the back yard (once). When the ricochet hit the aluminum siding behind me I realized that was a bad idea and never did it again. I'm worried about my kids getting in trouble with airsoft guns today, my how we have fallen. LOL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KpdPipes 388 Posted October 22, 2012 I was in Rifle club(school) in the 7th grade. That was 1980. Now the old town is gun free and crime and blight ridden. My old HS did away with it's Rifle team because of 2 reasons, #1, Insurance, Nobody would give them any for a HS Rifle team, and #2, the local PAL range was torn down. IIRC by the time everything collapsed, there were only around 7 or 8 HS teams left in the league, and they all pretty much went out around the same time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mipafox 438 Posted October 22, 2012 And you don't even have to go that far back either. Just the difference between the 80's and 90's is asinine. I know. I miss the hair, and that crap George Michael pulled in the public restroom made me burn my Wham records. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mipafox 438 Posted October 22, 2012 When i was a teenager in the 80's we use to walk around with our Pellet Guns and no one even thought twice about it. We were always safe and never did nothing stupid with them. I even bought a shotgun on a class trip to a sportsman show my senior year in high school. Brought it back on the bus with no issues. If I were to do that today I'd be in handcuffs. Why are so many people affraid of guns now. What changed in the last 25 years. In the 80s... I used to OC holstered pellet pistols in public when I was about 11-14. I once setup some bottles in front of some boxes (to catch the glass) in a parking lot next to two cops and they just laughed. Even though I was committing a felony (2nd degree crime?). I got caught with firearms by cops more than once when underaged as a kid. Once because the cops where called on me while I was trespassing and firing up some crap. (I thought it was abandoned property in the sand pits) The cops usually let me leave and once confiscated my guns for my parents to pickup. Hey, I couldn't shoot anything bigger than .22s on my property, and we didn't belong to or know much about gun clubs. People like us just found safe places in the Pine Barrens to shoot. I didn't know any better as a dumb kid and just made sure my bullets would stop where I wanted them stopped and nothing was threatened beyond the backstop. Kids used to park their trucks in the school parking lot with shotguns in the window during hunting season. We didn't have any sort of rifle club that I was aware of during the 80s and I don't think I remember seeing any firearms (*ahem*) brought into the school but it wouldn't have been shocking so I might have forgotten. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Horrible 0 Posted October 23, 2012 Abercrombie & Fitch used to be a for-real sporting goods chain. High end stuff like Orvis today. Today, A&F branded firearms sell for huge dollars. They say Ernest Hemingway shot himself with a gun he bought at A&F. These days, they assume everyone has a 30-inch waist and wears flip-flops everywhere even in the wintertime. Wtf. Raising a nation of sissies. (get off my lawn) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KramD52 0 Posted October 24, 2012 When i was a teenager in the 80's we use to walk around with our Pellet Guns and no one even thought twice about it. We were always safe and never did nothing stupid with them. I even bought a shotgun on a class trip to a sportsman show my senior year in high school. Brought it back on the bus with no issues. If I were to do that today I'd be in handcuffs. Why are so many people affraid of guns now. What changed in the last 25 years. Yup, same here. Definitely a better time period. Walmart still sells guns in some stores in free america. Yeah, whenever I take trips to Pa or Tn, I still find myself walking to the sporting goods department in Walmart reminiscing about the good ole days in NJ when a lot of department stores sold guns. Sort of like stepping back in time Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JrzyGuy30 0 Posted October 24, 2012 Man... reading this makes me wish I lived during the days when owning a firearm wasn't considered strange and abnormal. Time for a come back of the 2nd Amendment.. ten fold! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites