In today’s television world, programmers have turned their backs on guns. With last year’s cancellation of the Discovery channel’s series “American Guns,” “Ted Nugent’s Gun Country” and others, liberal democrats are on a warpath to remove firearms-related shows from their programming lineup. Their mission: make life safer for our children. Unfortunately, the American public is being fed a steady diet of misinformation from the narrow-minded people protesting networks and their advertisers.
These activists who lack common sense have no comprehension of the rich and historical role guns have played in American TV. A look back in time reveals a history where guns on TV were plentiful and, yes, our children were very safe indeed.
Virtually every hero we grew up watching on TV strapped a piece to his or her side. Whether you were watching “Star Trek,” “Bonanza,” “I Spy,” “The Beverly Hillbilies,” “Starsky and Hutch” or “Get Smart,” all the lead characters at some point wisely carried an insurance policy with them.
Comedy, science fiction, dramas, westerns, cartoons, it didn’t matter, guns were plentiful on TV and played an important part of our American culture in a positive and constructive way. And I repeat, for Mr. Obama’s sake, that our children were safe. So please stop hiding behind our youth, lying and scaring the hell out of everyone as you use our kids as props for your anti-gun agenda, Mr. President.
For this writer, no other television program displayed the virtues of the gun better than the classic show, “The Rifleman.” A western that starred a professional baseball and basketball star turned actor, Chuck Conners, as Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark.
The show Aired between 1958 and 1963 and was about a single parent in the late 1880s who was raising his son near the town of North Fork, New Mexico. The key to the show’s success wasn’t the rifle, a modified 1892 Winchester with a strategically placed pin-screw imbedded into the large loop lever, which made the weapon fire every time the lever was fully cycled. Instead, the show’s success was based around the relationship between father and son.
As a single parent myself, I appreciate the fact that “The Rifleman’s” objective in each episode was to incorporate and educate the viewer about things like morality, justice, compassion, understanding, forgiveness and everything in between. Quoting lessons from the good book and teaching his son the right from wrong, Lucas McCain was a symbol of what was great about America.
With his rifle turned into a superior semi-automatic weapon of the day, Lucas protected, educated, helped and fought alongside his fellow countrymen. The town of North Fork wouldn’t have been the safe haven it was without that gun. Although not the key to the show’s success, McCain’s rifle was nevertheless important enough that it could almost be considered a third cast member – a character that the McCains, as well as the television viewer, admired and respected.
Lucas’s rifle was so popular that it became a TV star itself, and for good reason. With common sense and family values, McCain illustrated the virtues of this gun every week and American children throughout the country honored the show by playing with the cap-gun flip-action replica version manufactured by the Hubley company back in 1958.
With life lessons in each show, a perfect example of our current administration’s policy is was illustrated in an episode entitled “The Day A Town Slept.” A new Marshal, Ben Judson, is elected and self-righteously states “the town felt it was time for a change.” As such, Lucas is ordered to “check in” his rifle, as the new marshal was enforcing a strict gun control ordinance.
McCain, being the law-abiding citizen he was, very reluctantly, and with suspicion, turned in his rifle. But the meaning of the new marshal’s “change” soon became fully realized and the situation turned for the worse. Eventually McCain decides to retrieve his weapon to right a wrong, suggesting an unarmed society isn’t an option for a free and just society.
In another episode entitled “The Schoolmaster,” Lucas is warned by the new school teacher not to bring his rifle anywhere near the school grounds (sound familiar?). After McCain’s rifle accidentally falls off their wagon, Mark reaches down to give it back to his father. In his attempt to lift the gun, the teacher barks at the boy, ordering him not to touch the gun. Mark replies that “it’s not good for a rifle to be in the dirt.” The boy’s common sense response fell on deaf ears as the teacher is shown to be an emotionally strict man, set in his ways (don’t talk back, just do as I say). Again, sound familiar? But Lucas speaks his piece and makes his point regarding the teacher’s stance and we’re better for it.
The lessons taught and learned from shows like “The Rifleman” are more important today than ever. It’s a shame that the main depiction of guns on TV today are almost exclusively when they cause death and destruction. The example of Lucas McCain, as a role model with rifle in hand, is badly needed to remind people that the gun can also stand for freedom, justice, security and sometimes yes, just plain old fun.
Gone are the days when Lou Costello could pull out his snub-nose cap gun and fire away at his rival, Stinky on “The Abbott and Costello Show.” But, we have a humorless anti-gun administration with delusional activists who, if they’d only look back in time, would realize that when guns were plentiful on national TV and shows with some common sense like “The Rifleman” dominated our airwaves, American children were indeed safe.
Excellent, another home run!
Excellent piece. Extra credit for the picture of Emma Peel.
The good news is that boys, at least, still make guns out of whatever is at hand in their play. Human nature, for now, refuses to be Oprahized.
Turn the TV off and read a book.
I’m confused…did Nick say he was a supporter of background checks / prior restraints on constitutionally guaranteed rights?
Damn he’s good! I think he could read a church bulletin board and make it interesting.
Speaking truth to power, as always.
They should have bid out the barrel alteration job and did em by batches. No need for complete weapons
guess we can buy the old ones and eventually the receivers ….
As someone who grew up watching The Rifleman and who still thoroughly enjoys the show today (on the Memorable Entertainment Network), I want to say Thank You for this piece. The Rifleman remains my favorite television program. That’s both a testament to just how good the old show was as well as how bad most television is today.
But more than any other factor, watching these shows again now, 50 years after they were produced, it is crystal clear that everything the writer here describes is true. Young boys didn’t just watch a lot of gun play when they watched The Rifleman. We were being given life lessons with real value.
Sadly, today, the opening credits of the show, in which Lucas McCain fires over ten rounds from his rifle while walking down the street, causes liberals heart pains and they have no interest in one of the best means of guiding young men into responsible adulthood, simply because their phobia over the gun will not allow them to see the bigger picture. It is sad that similar entertainment has no chance of being created today. Those of us who were children of the 50’s and 60’s didn’t know how lucky we were to have grown up when we did. Now we surely do.
Roberts, you are so right.
I chose this complete lower for my first AR “build”.
At $170 ($182 out the door with CA taxes and fees) it was an attractive price and a friend has been shooting an older generation one at Frontsight for a few years.
At first, I could not get the rear pin to go through to connect the upper (Aero, with Mossber4 M4 Melonite 16″bbl – 5.56, MI free float mid-length rail PSA BCG and unspecified make charging handle).
I looked closer and carefully sanded down some burs and I now have a snug fit:
http://s1362.photobucket.com/user/DoktorVino/media/lw15sanded_zps38b783f0.png.html
I expect it to shoot fine tomorrow.
This is really a sad thing. Tom Knapp was not only a great shooter, but he was a great entertainer too. With that voice of his, he could have been a radio announcer. And he was younger than I am, which kinda creeps me out.
Stephanie gives me wood. That is all.
Please run for (NRA/USA) president, you got my vote …
Nice to see and hear a person that is smart, well spoken
and really means what he says!
I’m totally against abortion, for myself, but I’m totally for the stupid people terminating their DNA. I did note the hypocrisy. Besides, the NRA is funded by the evil corporations, not the millions of members. Can I get my check back?
I’m Adam Carolla, ready Dr. Drew? Germany or Florida?
Holy crap! That actually worked. Sort of. Man, how much time do you have on your hands and how bad do you want a squirrel to come up with that? That boys family tree don’t branch, does it?
He could have sat outside really quite and being such an f’n nut, a squirrel (or squirrels) would have been attracted to him sooner or later.
A true McGiver.
This bring to mind a phrase I heard once. ” Being able to disable all five safeties on your new lawnmower to make it easier to use may be clever, but as you search for lost toes in the grass, you may realize the definition of the word wisdom” This boy at least gets a few “clever” points.
I love “The Rifleman” as much as anybody, so that part of the essay is great. But the premise that there aren’t any shows on TV that have guns in them is ridiculous. There are tons of shows with characters packing heat. I’ll bet you can’t cycle through the channels on any basic cable package in America at any time after 6 PM and not see a gun. Sure, there aren’t many shows that are about guns, but have there really ever been?
I’m a cop and I do not like gun buybacks. Thinking that a gangbanger is going to turn in their gat for a couple bucks is seriously stupid.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to denigrate working coppers with my previous statement ’bout the LAPD buybacks. My ire is focused on the administrators who pander to the politically correct cause of the day to further their wanna be political ambitions.
I live in Canada and at one time in our history we were able to own guns that held a capacity of more than ten rounds. Our government has enacted a law which requires pistols magazines to only hold ten rounds. Of course, this was not due to gun violence, but was due to the same argument now in effect in the US. Gun control activists demanded a reduced number of rounds because they felt it would somehow make people safer, and they reasoned that civilians didn’t need more than ten.
The population in Canada versus the US is disproportionally smaller and always has been/always will be. With a population in the US the size that it is and growing every year, plus the addition of your constitution, I would urge my American brothers to continue fighting for their constitutional rights.
If you look at the history of Canada (being a territory of the British Crown) you’ll see that the monarchy has always wanted to control it’s citizens for fear of them rising up against the ruling class.
America was founded by individuals seeking separation from the monarchy and instituted the constitution as a means of ensuring that the citizens were able to defend themselves and not be controlled by their government.
As US citizens it is your constitutional right to fight against tyranny and demand that the government not strip you of the means to protect yourself.
On another note, we also have laws dictating the length of knives we are allowed to carry on us as well. So you can see how far our government has gone with this issue of protecting yourself.
I watched it in the first season. Realized that the only person on the show who did any real gunsmith work on the show was Vince. I got tired of arguments where Vince was ordered to cut corners on a project. I learned later that Vince finally quit and started his own company. , Apparently, Vince was the only one at Red Jacket with an FFL. The story goes that 10 guns went missing or were unaccounted for, and Will and his daughter lost their FFLs. They made a deal with the ATF. On paper, neither Will nor his daughter owned the company in that first season.
I left a message on his FaceBook page politely offering to explain how he was factually incorrect in every particular. Oddly, I have received no response yet… 8>)
I think the question here really should be: is carrying without a holster irresponsible? This happened because of Plaxico-esque carry.
My Sog Twitch II cost $30 and I think it does everything a knife should.
Sounds like one of those events that is preceded by a statement like, “Hey you guys–watch this!” As he twirls the loaded revolver around his trigger finger.
So everything sucked but it got an overall rating of 4 stars?? Might want to slow down on that hi-octane chronic, bro.
My wife teaches middle eastern folk dance…we have about 200 cds of traditional folk music and modern pop from all over the middle east, some of which was purchased from ebay, amazon, or at middle eastern markets using a credit card. How much you want to bet we’re on someone’s list for that alone? Yet we’ve never had a issue with all the background checks we’ve submitted, and between the two of us we had five checks last year. I guess we’re part of that 91% that pass.
magpul needs to make 30 round mags for the ruger 10-22. i’m somewhat joking, but only somewhat.
I’m sure they will be perpetually sold out and unable to be backordered like AR PMAGS unfortunately. They do look great and I hope I can get some in the future to compare to my Bulgarian Tapco and U.S. Palm mags.
Another state aching for true patriots to do as Thomas Jefferson and the spirit of the 2A demands they do with traitors and tyrants.
But none will. Welcome to castrated modern America.