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Getting The Young Folks Hooked...


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I was out at the local gun club yesterday warming up the old gal with a few hundred rounds when one of the other members and his teenage son came up and asked if the son could take a picture holding my Thompson. I told him that I would do him one better and pulled a box of ammo out and loaded up a drum.

 

Well, dad shot a video of his son blasting away and the looks on both of their faces was well worth the box of ammo! I'll bet he's shown that video a hundred times already!

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Excellent, Bruce! You know, come to think of it, I get more joy out of other poeple shooting the Thompson than I do myself...
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Kinda like this with a daughter of a friend. I emailed her the picture and she printed it and took it to school. Her teacher called her dad and was upset! The dad said get over it, if she learns about them, she will respect and know them. She is also a very good marksman with a Civil War musket! Better than I am.

 

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full auto 45: I am suprised the school, in this politically correct society, didn't expell her under a zero gun tolerance policy. Remember the good ole days when you could read a gun magazine in the school library without being in fear? I'll bet the school library doesn't even have any hunting magazines. I agree with these posts about sharing our thompsons. We must educate the next generation or they will only hear the left's agrument that all guns are evil (except those possessed by the State). I enjoy the look on the person's face after they fire their first Thompson. Well worth a box of ammo. http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/smile.gif
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Has anyone done a documentary about machinegun ownership and its virtues as a sport? In one sense, our hobby is an extreme sport and certainly not without mystique. I think such a show could provide a positive education, if written in an unbiased manner.
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Chris,

You're absolutely right! I figure that I'm fortunate enough to own one and I'm more than happy to make someone's day out at the range, especially a kid. I spend much more time cleaning and reloading than I actually shoot!

 

Bruce

 

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Nice going Bruce

When my boy was in the 8th grade,in history class they were learning about WWII and my boy asked me if I would take my Tommy Gun ( M1A1 ) to his class and talked to them about the history of that Thompson in the war. The principle said "ok" and his teacher said "ok " and everybody was thrilled to see it and to get to hold it. That was 23 years ago, can't do that nowdays " to bad "

 

See Ya Tino

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Bruce L, Amen to that! It`s gets real freindly at the range when I pull out the full autos, and you`re right about sharing the joy of shooting.I too, spend a lot of time cleaning and reloading...more than shooting...I guess it`s good thing we enjoy it so much.I just can`t seem to find any vols to help clean up....it sure warms the heart to see all those smiles!!KEEPEM`SMOKIN`,out. http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/wink.gif
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I figure about a third of the ammo I buy for my subguns is given away to those interested and/or needing desperately to be "enlightened". I figure it's a small price to pay for a hobby I love soooooooo much, and ammo really isn't THAT expensive, is it??

 

Last fall I took my family up North to set up deer stands, then we went shooting in a gravel pit nearby. I broke out the subguns (much to the delight of others unknown to us but present to sight in their deer guns...)

Needless to say I got loads of questions (are those legal"?? and "what does one of these go for"??) and lots of compliments. A couple guys wanted to know if they could shoot their own ammo in my guns (Factory? Why not??) and then there was a young man (14??) who didn't have any pistol ammo.....until I gave him some loaded in a magazine!!

They all smile...ALOT!!!

 

So do I.

 

Best part were the pics of my daughter and her friend. Standing with arms at port (My daughter had my '28 Bridgeport and her friend had my S&W 76) with sunglasses and the look of two spys on a mission!!!

And then the pic of side-by-side brass streams......

They both took their pics to their school and posted them in their cubicles......and they are still getting questions!!!

 

If I can get my scanner going I'll post this pic!

 

john

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When you said 'up north' john, I figured you were from Minnesota, see I wasn't wrong. uff da.

 

Coleraine, Cohasset, GR...we all had guns, but we didn't shoot each other...maybe some of the Warba people took dear out of season, but it was food, not sport.

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Bruce in 1996 I was a junoir in high school. We had to do a demonstration speech for english class. My teacher and principal let me bring in my ar15 to demonstrate how to clean it and give some history on it. The teaching staff that was on break came to the class to watch.It was a great experience for everyone,but our school is a rural country school where everyone hunts,heck they even let us out for shotgun season.Hopefully someday people will realize that firearms and shooting are apart of American history. Well gotta go JC
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My wife is the principal at a local school. When the American History classes get to WWII, I get invited to display my US, German, and Commonwealth mannequins decked out from head to toe with authentic uniforms and field gear AND machine guns and hand grenades (empty). The kids love it. Believe it or not, many have not ever held a live MP44 or Thompson in their lives. I've taken a few kids out to shoot. They loved shooting the Thompson, the MP5, and the Uzi.

 

Here's my oldest when he was five. We had just finished shooting it and a suppressed M11 (and yes, he had eye and ear protection during the shooting). Note the smile http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

LittleFren.JPG

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You guys are being very politically incorrect and subversive, according to most traditional authorities!! http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/ohmy.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/blink.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/cool.gif That is a good thing. You are teaching them all about political and intellectual diversity,honesty, not to mention tolerance! http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/blink.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/tongue.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/ohmy.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/laugh.gif Regards, Walter

 

P.S. As an added dividend, maybe some of these stiff-necked, self-righteous types (some teachers and administrators) will learn to have some fun. http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/blink.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/smile.gif Well, maybe! http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/tongue.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/laugh.gif

 

P.P.S. Also, remember the old maxim, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world!" [This statement has been attributed to many world leaders, including Roman Emperors, Roman Catholic Medieval Popes, and Adolph Hitler. It still holds true.] Bravo guys! I applaud your positive examples!Teach the children or lose the future!

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We were shooting machine guns (yikes, horrors!) at our range which is located on city owned property. There are some practice fields on the same property and some kids were playing soccer. The range is on the opposite end of the property, separated by hill and trees and downrange is pointing 180 degrees away from the practice fields. One of the soccer moms called the police to complain about the shooting "They aren't supposed to be shooting when the children are practicing". The officer who she spoke with related this to me after we were done shooting. I told him his response to her should have been "Good parents should expose their children to gun fire (preferably automatic weapons) at an early age, lest they grow up to be p***ies."

 

He thought it was funny, but he would not have thought to say it when he was speaking with her. I would have http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

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I get tapped to do school presentations for the job. I take hard cases full of subguns and other goodies to show the kids. You should see their eyes when I open the cases. The students are drooling and the teacher looks like she is going to pass out!

 

My reenacting group does alot of shows for students. Just this year we did about 15,000 kids. Weapons demos include pistols, rifles, machineguns (mag and belt guns), the only operational flame thrower in TX and our Stuart tank with operational 37mm gun. We never have to police up the brass. The kids beat us to it.

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Greg,

You have a Stuart tank? That is my favorite tank! I know where one is that just begs to be restored but don't know how to get from the state park its in. Would love to see yours. Tell me about it, don't leave anything out.

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Well, I don't have it. It belongs to the state. It's a M3. The 37mm is operational. We made a sub caliber device to shoot .50 thru it. Lots cheaper and you can get blanks for it. We usually mount .30 cals in the coax and gunner positions. The only thing its missing is the radio and the stabo kit for the main gun. Since we do Pacific Theater, she's dressed in USMC markings. Did I mention that we are also building an M16 halftrack? Quad 50's, all live.
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Just wait until his mother gets home. Grandpa is such a bad influance on the kids! I can just hear it now! http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/tongue.gif http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif

This is my grandson Sam holding the Thompson's for the first time. He could hardly wait to do it when I asked him. He is 6 and wants to call his friend already and tell him about it! I can't stop laughing.

 

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Mike

The world needs more grandpa's like you.

 

My total anti-gun sister has recently warmed enough to let the nephew

now go paintball shooting and also get an airsoft gun.

(neither of these are my passion)

I like to think I had a slight influence since I was asked to bring him paintball shooting.

Little steps one by one.

I am not going to introduce a Colt Thompson, YET!

Maybe one day when the time is right.

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This is my two cents on getting young people involved. After many years a member in the CTCI (Classic Thunderbird Club International) I resigned last year. The club was run by a bunch of narrow minded old dinosaurs. They would not reccognize any Thunderbird unless it was a so called "Classic" The Corvette club and the Mustang club on the other hand has a young and growing membership. The last straw was when the elitists in the club would not accept the new two seater T Bird as a "real" T Bird. Sound familiar? Dinosaurs die out with no replacements. FYI no replacements or Turtles as we called them in the Army means no one to replace us and buy our T Birds or Thompsons when we are ready to sell them. Thank God they still make Mustangs, Cobras and Corvetts. Thank God for Westies. Thank God for KAR. How does anyone expect a normal young person to become interested much less an active participant in this very expensive hobby without them? Once they get hooked they can trade up on the appreciation their entry level gun is making. If they don't make that first buy, the price escalation will leave them in the dust. I have listened to this ongoing debate about real vs. unreal Thompsons since Dec. 20 when I joined this forum. I have learned a lot. I believe the more people in this game the better for everyone and the younger the people the brtterer for everyone. Some of you folks need to lighten up just a little or they will bury you with your 21s because there will be no one to take them off your wifes hands at a price you told her it would be worth. As I said at the beginning of this post, just my two cents. Please give it some thought. http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/ph34r.gif Hank
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