THIS MIGHT OFFER A RAY OF HOPE IN THE ANTI-GUN POLITICALLY CORRECT WORLD THAT WE LIVE IN TODAY. My daughter teaches third grade at a local elementary school. Every year when their history class gets to the American Civil War I go to her school and give the kids a talk on that period. I have done this every year for about the last fifteen.
Yesterday was the day for this year. Generally I do it for her class & one or two more. Yesterday it was for the entire third grade including the handicapped students totalling about 250. Theb school lets me bring my weapons: Enfield & Springfield Muskets, Colt Army & Navy Revolvers, a Spencer & a Burnside Carbine, Duelling Pistols & a variety of edged weapons: swords, Bowie knives, etc. I always lead off with admonitions about the handling of weapons, gun safety and the requirement of the presence of a responsible adult. I explain what each weapon or accoutrament is, who used it and how it was used. I intersperse my talk with exerpts from Ken Burns "Civil War" and let Shelby Foote exterpolate on what's going on in each period. I close letting the kids use my metal detector to find bullets & buttons in a box of sand so as to show them that we can still find artifacts from that period & let them speak their stories to us.
In April of each year my daughter (who has been "Teacher of the Year" several times) has been able to arrange a field trip to Charleston, SC (@ 100 miles away). Her school being in a somewhat lower middle class area, a number of her kids have never seen the ocean. We usually visit the aquarium and then board a catamaran for a trip out to Morris Island, the site of Battery Wagner (GLORY), stop off at Fort Sumter and wind up at Fort Moultrie. It's always quite a day! They take me along as an un-paid historian (ballast).
I guess it's too late to be brief, but these 8 & 9 year olds are fascinated by the guns & swords and the cannons, uniforms, flags, etc. at the forts. Ten years or so from now these will be our college freshmen and will know something of our Nation's History and the part played in it by weapons. I have never heard of a single one of her kids ever getting into trouble with a gun.
Best Regards, George
