The dastardly $60.00+ barrier to entry of buying one's first gun

[Solomonson]

I was thinking about how I came to own my first firearm as a kid. When I was five I was walking around my neighborhood when I came across a yard sale. There was a brand new Marlin Model 100 for sale for $10.00. It was still in the box. I looked it over carefully (well, as careful as a young kid could) when its owner appeared.

The first thing he said was "Hi Solomonson, would your Father allow you to have a rifle?" I replied that I think he would. So he said "let's call him" and we went inside his house to call. He and my Dad talked for a few minutes and then hung up. My neighbor said my Dad had approved the sale.

Excited I said "let me go get the money!" as I readied myself for the 4 block run. He said "aren't you forgetting something -- your rifle?" as he handed me the boxed Marlin. Once home I laid the sweet little 22 on my bed, raided my piggy bank (with my Mom's assistance) and tore back to the seller's house to complete the deal. It was at that point that he gave me three boxes of .22 shells (shorts, in red boxes with a black stripe) and a half box of Remington.410 shells for the future.

If a young person was to get their first firearm today here in California, it would require one of their parents to spend $25.00 to take a firearms safety test, plus $25.00 in fees for the first firearm -- plus of course the 10 day wait. That $50.00 in combined fees and 10 day wait are particularly diabolical when one is trying to purchase their first firearm.

Doing that deal with my neighbor would have been even more expensive -- $60.00 including another $10.00 fee for the person to person transfer plus the wait of course.

There still are very inexpensive used first-time buyer's "beginner's" out there in the $50-100.00 range. Less if the person wants rid of the gun, or is wanting to help someone own their own gun, but the bloody fees and wait period add considerably to the cost and the effort.

I think these fees give people pause to ever getting into guns/the shooting sports while they're young and that's a same. A $25.00 fee is a prickly irritant when someone is buying their umpteenth Glock or AR. A $50-60 barrier to entry to someone buying their first firearm is downright UN-American!

 

[Sniper66]

Great story; a uniquely American story that much of the world does not understand. Thanks for the story.

 

[bikemutt]

Nice story, thanks for sharing.

 

[Hanzo581]

I'm only 35, so I never experienced it, but I love hearing these kind of stories. To think hardware stores, auto part stores, Sears Catalogs etc had such wonderful guns available without all the bureaucratic nonsense is wonderful.

 

[M1key]

Uniquely California American experience. That's why I moved out in 1990. I saw the writing on the wall then. It's been a long time, but Governor "Moonbeam" needs to finally exhale...I doubt he ever will.

M

 

[Solomonson]

I'm only 35, so I never experienced it, but I love hearing these kind of stories. To think hardware stores, auto part stores, Sears Catalogs etc had such wonderful guns available without all the bureaucratic nonsense is wonderful.

My Marlin had been purchased at the Sears in my hometown. Our neighbor (a physician) purchased it for rodent control at his beach house but never got around to using it. When I shouldered it, it felt like a Garand compared to my Daisy Winchester 94 lever action BB gun.

 

[Solomonson]

Almost 20 years later, "Doc" was well on in age and gifted me with his only other firearm when I graduated from college -- a Winchester Model 42 pump shotgun -- essentially a Winchester Model 12 in .410. I still have both the Marlin and the Winchester today. Guns really can preserve great memories...

 

[jonnyc]

And how much time would your neighbor serve for handing a firearm and ammo to a five year old???

 

[ontarget]

First of all, its 2017, what parent these days lets their 5 year old wander around the neighborhood? And then come home toting a rifle? Sounds like prison time to me.
Good Lord how the times have changed.....for the worse I bought my first gun from my cousin at about 12 years old. Neither of us even consulted with a parent, just did the deal. 35 years later my son now has that .410.

 

[Sistema1927]

When I was 7 I was riding the Staten Island Ferry by myself over to Manhattan from our home on Ft. Wadsworth. I had to be home before the street lights came on.

When I was 10 I was riding the Underground in London, England alone, and sometimes wandered around the British Museum for hours on end.

When I was 12 I purchased a .22 rifle and 2 boxes of ammo at a Western Auto in El Paso, TX, and spent my free time busting West Texas jack rabbits. (Yes, I was an Army brat.)

Now you might understand part of my signature.

 

[ccoyle]

It doesn't sound like I'm quite as old as some of the story-tellers here, but I did buy my first firearm in California -- a Mossberg pump shotgun at Thrifty Drugs (remember them?). It cost me a whopping $125, but no fees, and I paid my money and walked out the door with it. Not anymore -- the nut-jobs in Sacramento are doing everything they possibly can to discourage gun ownership. I'm happy to be an ex-pat now. Miss my friends and the scenery, though.

 

[Coop45]

Those were the good old days when WW2 rifles were in a barrel at the store. I bought a Carcano 6.5 because money was tight. Only about one in ten rounds would fire, but it was fun messing with it.

 

[1911 guy]

I was about nine or ten, had some money from working summer jobs and dad helped me pick something I'd get the most use out of. H&R 20ga. I paid 63 dollars for the shotgun, two boxes of 6 shot and a hunting license. Somewhere, I still have the handwritten receipt from Boondocks Sporting Goods. Not sure they're in business anymore. That's been decades.

Now, in 2017, kids can't work without a permit and have to be 15 or 16. And we wonder why kids are lazy. Because we've told them work is something to put off until later. When i was a kid, summer work was something to look forward to because it provided money to play with.

Dad took me to the shop, but i put the money on the counter and the receipt had my name on it. Now, you can't even get into an Ohio hunter education class, required to get a license, until you're 11 or 12.

 

[Hanzo581]

This thread is kind of depressing. How did we let things change so drastically?

 

[km101]

At the age of 14 I had my first full-time summer job. I was working cows on horseback, making $.65 cents per hour. (I would have done it for free just to get to ride the horses.) About the middle of the summer, when I was "payday rich" I spotted a new Ruger Bearcat in the gun department of a local department store. It was love at first sight and I had to have it. The price of the little .22 revolver was $31.65 and this amounted to almost 2 weeks wages, but I had to wait much longer because my Mom was making me put half my earnings in savings.

The day finally came for me to purchase my first gun. I went to the gun counter by myself because I was not sure how my Mom would react to a gun purchase. I told the man behind the counter that I wanted to buy the Bearcat. He said "do you know how much that gun costs?" I laid two twenties on the counter and he said "Let me get you one in the box." I was so excited I was almost shaking and my voice was quivering as I gave the info. for the bill of sale. That was the only paperwork. The salesman looked me over and said "well I guess you are 18 aren't you?" I just grunted and took my gun and left. I was so rattled that I forgot to buy ammo, but my older brothers had some at home, so I got to shoot it that afternoon.

I still have that little Bearcat today and I will give it to my grandson when he is old enough to handle it safely.

 

[armoredman]

I know what you mean. I went down to the store to pick up my son's STG44 a few weeks ago, and I paid my FFL transfer money,($20 at that store, with CCW permit), filled out the paperwork, and was out the door with the rifle and ammo in about 15 minutes. Of course, I'm in AZ. I can't imagine going through the lunacy of California transfers as they are now

 

[BigBore44]

This thread is kind of depressing. How did we let things change so drastically?

That is a very simple answer that took about 4-5 decades to come to fruition. A little at a time. I'm 34. Grew up when you could still ride your bike across town to a friend's house. You knew your neighbors. Your neighbors knew everyone's phone numbers. No cell phones. Parents would load their kid's friends up and take them home if the street lights were on. Kids got in fights with fists. We ate dinner at the kitchen table. We watched shows as a family. We did things as a family. We said our prayers at night. We called instead of texted. If you didn't finish in the top 3, you didn't get a trophy. You didn't go to Dairy Queen as a team if you didn't win. If you didn't make the minimum grade, you didn't pass. If you didn't want to participate in a family function because it was "dumb", you didn't go do what YOU wanted. I could go on for awhile about this one. But....now....here we are. And people wonder why at 34, I love the Andy Griffith Show.

 

[Orcon]

This thread is kind of depressing. How did we let things change so drastically?

By isolating ourselves from our neighbors, trading security for comfort, exchanging grit for participation trophies and swapping community for government.

Let's blame the millennials.

 

[Mousegun]

Nice story until the end. That is when it got ugly.

 

[redneck2]

At 66 Y.O. have I lived the beginning of the end. That was when Lyndon Johnson was elected. "The Great Society" when socialism started taking over. When everybody is equal, nobody excels. Back then, crimes got punished. If you ran from a cop he could legally shoot you. Nobody ran.

Anyway, yeah we had guys with pickup trucks at school that had rifles or shotguns out in the parking lot. My first rifle of my very own was at 14. Got a .22-250 to shoot groundhogs on our dairy farm.

 

[buck460XVR]

How did we let things change so drastically?

Many of the gun controls imposed during our generation(babyboomers) came about because of tragedy caused by the use of easily obtained firearms. I too was one of those young boys that lusted after those "cool" and cheap military rifles for sale on the back page of my dad's sporting mags. One of my first guns was a $25 M1917 that came from a barrel. It was my primary deer rifle for 40 odd years till I switched over to hunting deer using only handguns. The assassination of JFK along with the attempted assassination of Reagan brought about most significant gun control legislation. Whether any of it is or was necessary, is highly debatable. Making it so one needs to be 18 to purchase a firearm legally, probably a good thing. But much has changed, not just gun control. Our attitude towards safe gun handling and safety for instance. How many of us as parents/grandparents would want a neighbor to hand over a gun and ammo to our 5 year old child/grandchild, and tell them to have fun? Even if we knew them? How many would let those same children pick out their first firearm without us scrutinizing it? Back in the days of which the OP's story depicts, $10 probably was a lot of money......especially for a 5 year old. My first two cars cost me less than $100 and both were still running well, with good rubber on them when I sold them. Cost me $8 for a driver's license. Nowadays, it's hard to fill the gas tank for less than $50, and a junk vehicle that doesn't run is worth $400. I haven't seen a decent $2000 vehicle that I would trust any of my kids/grandkids to drive for quite a while. Cost my youngest son around $300 to get his license 8 years ago. Does that impede folks from driving any more than when I was kid? I doubt it. Costs are always an impediment, but those costs are also relative, to the time period and our economy. While I agree that many of those costs are just another tax, cost of a transfer is profit driven....as is the cost of most firearms. What is see around here is while the costs of purchasing/maintaining/feeding both cars and guns is higher than I was a kid, both are safer, more user friendly, more readily available with a wider variety of options than ever before. Figuring in inflation and the increase in the costs of living, they are no less affordable to the average American than back when I was a kid. That does not mean I agree with all of the gun control implemented since I bought my first gun, just that one needs to keep things in perspective. My family depended on the food brought home from the use of firearms to feed our family. That ain't so any more pretty much anywhere in the lower 48. My family had only one vehicle in the household until my oldest sister bought her first car with money she earned and the three oldest kids in my family(me included) only had a vehicle because we bought and paid for it and it's maintenance. Nowadays, it's hard to find any family of 2 or more that does not have 3 vehicles of some sort parked in the driveway. Most of those high school kids haven't worked a day in their lives yet for a legitimate employer. Mom and dad bought the fancy car parked out in the High School parking lot, along with the cost of the permit for their kid to park in the parking lot. Those cars are not the death traps my folks let me buy for $50 apiece and for good reason. While I had no qualms about driving those vehicles, I certainly would not let my kids/grandkids depend on them, nor would they be legally allowed on public roadways. Yep times have certainly changed, and most of that change is all of our fault or the fault of our parents, and not a big mystery. Kinda how the law works the idea of Capitalism works here in America.

 

[stevekozak]

I feel an urge to go put some shells through some of my sigle barreled shotguns, esp the HR 20 gauge I got at age 12.

 

[Fishslayer]

My first rifle was a 10/22 I bought at White Front in '77 (IIRC). I think it was $100. I used to ride around Oxnard with the thing strapped caseless to the back of my motorcycle.

Not a good idea today...

 

[MedWheeler]

Don't have any "cheap-guns-acquired-as-a-kid" stories, but the costs the OP cites would have doubled the cost of the Jennings J22 I bought new in 1987 at a gun show, and nearly tripled that of the Stevens M89 .22 rifle (lever-actuated, falling-block, single-shot) I bought at another the next year (I do still have them both.)

 

[Sistema1927]

Many of the gun controls imposed during our generation(babyboomers) came about because of tragedy caused by the use of easily obtained firearms.

Huh?

It wasn't the "easily obtained firearms" that caused those tragedies, but they made an excellent scapegoat. JFK, RFK, and MLK would still be just as dead since Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, and James Earl Ray wanted them dead, and would have found a way to obtain their weapons and ammunition regardless of controls.

Don't buy into the anti-freedom line.