The Mystery of Male Armies, Redux

 

A young friend came to visit. He is seven years old and, of course, his mother does not permit him to have toy guns. This is what he made, without assistance, using rubber bands and twigs from the yard. Note the magazines (yup, there’s one on the other side) and the sights on the barrel.

As @franksoto put it, in the title to a recent post, “bask in the crazy” indeed.

Published in Guns
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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    GrannyDude (View Comment):
    I don’t know how…?!

    Insert it again, through the Add Media button, and in that dialog off to the side will be a “Size” drop-down box. Try it full size instead of thumbnail.

    • #61
  2. Hank Rhody, Red Hunter Contributor
    Hank Rhody, Red Hunter
    @HankRhody

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    Also, for no particular reason, my newly married son and his bride…

    Embiggen please?

    I don’t know how…?!

    Hit edit in the bottom of your comment. Right click on the picture. Hit “edit” (the pencil icon.) In the display settings you’ll find a drop down to choose a size.

    • #62
  3. Amy Schley Coolidge
    Amy Schley
    @AmySchley

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    Also, for no particular reason, my newly married son and his bride…

    Embiggen please?

    I don’t know how…?!

    Edit your comment. Right click on the picture. Click the edit button (looks like a pencil). Select the full size option for size.

    • #63
  4. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad

    I was just weeding out front of the house and someone catcalled me from a passing car.

    I was horrified.

    Prude. It was praise, of sorts.

    I would be flattered if any women thought I was good looking, and expressed it. Luckily for all, only Mrs. iWe ever does.

    • #64
  5. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    Also, for no particular reason, my newly married son and his bride…

    Sissy bars are important.

    • #65
  6. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    My kids are allowed ALL toy guns – except for those that actually look like real guns. Too many accidental shootings of kids with something that looked real in the dark/shadow/etc.

    Any kids points any toy gun of any kind at me, and I summarily grab it, break it, and dispose it. Haven’t had a boy try in years – and I have a 5 and 7 year old.

    • #66
  7. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    iWe (View Comment):

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad

    I was just weeding out front of the house and someone catcalled me from a passing car.

    I was horrified.

    Prude. It was praise, of sorts.

    I would be flattered if any women thought I was good looking, and expressed it. Luckily for all, only Mrs. iWe ever does.

    GF: How would you like being treated like a piece of meat?

    Me: My place or yours?

    • #67
  8. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    iWe (View Comment):

    Prude. It was praise, of sorts.

     

    Prude? Really? I’m a prude? Overly proper and concerned with sexual impropriety because I think some strange man whistling and shouting at my ass is a loser? 

    You probably think that when I reported to the police the man who accosted me on my road nearly ten years ago when I was pregnant and waddling down the road one morning and asked me if I’d like to hop in his truck and get it on with him, that showed even more what a prunish prude I am.

    That man thought that my red-hot anger was a little upsetting. He sure drove away in quite a hurry. He probably thought I was a prude too. 

    If you read my comment, you know that I recognize that men and women might view it differently. I didn’t overly censure the whistler yesterday, and I don’t really appreciate you calling me names.

    I’d appreciate it if you apologize @iwe, because your “prude” comment really bothers me.

    Feel free to think privately that I am even more of a prude for wanting an apology, but I don’t see why I had to be insulted here. Again.

     

    • #68
  9. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):
    Prude? Really? I’m a prude? Overly proper and concerned with sexual impropriety because I think some strange man whistling and shouting at my ass is a loser? 

    You’re definitely not a prude, Mama Toad.

    Yelling personal remarks at someone is intrusive and boorish—-it’s definitely not a compliment. The people who do it aren’t trying to make the object of their attention feel good and happy. Quite the opposite. 

    • #69
  10. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Oh, Mama Toad! I was not trying to insult you!!! I was poking fun, and did not mean the remark as genuine criticism at all!

    In my ultra-orthodox world, men and women often avoid direct eye contact, we don’t touch unrelated members of the opposite sex, and, depending on the situation, it is inappropriate to even greet a woman or man whom you do not know. And I wholeheartedly agree with these strictures, in their proper place. I know from real prudence. To top it off, I lived in the UK for ten years, where Jewish prudishness takes an even more rarified form (having absorbed much of the English attitude of repression toward sex in general)

    So, no: I do not consider you to be a prude. I was just amused, is all.

    Please accept my apology, because I meant no offense whatsoever, and am disappointed in myself that I failed to properly communicate my tone in the email.

    • #70
  11. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    Thank you. Sorry.

    I may not be a prude, but sometimes I misread people.

    Cheers!

    • #71
  12. Phil Turmel Inactive
    Phil Turmel
    @PhilTurmel

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    Also, for no particular reason, my newly married son and his bride…

    Embiggen please?

    I don’t know how…?!

    Edit the comment, click on the photo, click on the pencil icon, then select “large” from the available settings.  Possible also change the “Link to” to Image URL.   That lets us click on the picture to see the original hi-res version.

    • #72
  13. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    Phil Turmel (View Comment):

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    Also, for no particular reason, my newly married son and his bride…

    Embiggen please?

    I don’t know how…?!

    Edit the comment, click on the photo, click on the pencil icon, then select “large” from the available settings. Possible also change the “Link to” to Image URL. That lets us click on the picture to see the original hi-res version.

    I made it bigger in the original post—-does that help? (And…aren’t they adorable?)

     

    • #73
  14. Phil Turmel Inactive
    Phil Turmel
    @PhilTurmel

    Quake Voter (View Comment):

    Phil Turmel (View Comment):

    Quake Voter (View Comment):

    Hank Rhody, Red Hunter (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Qoumidan (View Comment):

    I have no problem with guns, but I didn’t have them around when my older children were young. With no input or encouragement (no discouragement either) the two oldest, both boys, made guns out of everything from their trio blocks and Legos to pencils and sticks. It’s just in their nature, it seems. My daughter did not, even though she followed them.

    Give a little boy a Barbie doll, and he’ll turn it into a weapon.

     

    It’s not that hard. Bend her legs forward at the waist, then turn her horizontal, face down. Hold her by the legs and fire her like a pistol.

    Barbie cannot be a pistol. She has no front hole.

    Barbie heads are removable. The neck stump appears to be a suitable barrel. You can guess how I know….

    Please tell me you haven’t been vacationing in Wind Gap, Missouri Phil…

    Huh.  I don’t get that reference.

    I just grew up with three brothers and three sisters.  Each others’ toys were often repurposed.  (-:

    • #74
  15. Michael Brehm Lincoln
    Michael Brehm
    @MichaelBrehm

    dnewlander (View Comment):

    In New Mexico it’s illegal to make a noose with 13 loops, so the rope can be problematic all on its own…

    Well that’s not just illegal, it’s also unlucky.  How’s that old nursery rhyme go again?

    The twelve-loop’d noose tis the hangman’s sure friend.
    Employ the thirteenth and you will surely meet the same end.

    • #75
  16. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    iWe (View Comment):

    Oh, Mama Toad! I was not trying to insult you!!! I was poking fun, and did not mean the remark as genuine criticism at all!

    In my ultra-orthodox world, men and women often avoid direct eye contact, we don’t touch unrelated members of the opposite sex, and, depending on the situation, it is inappropriate to even greet a woman or man whom you do not know. And I wholeheartedly agree with these strictures, in their proper place. I know from real prudence. To top it off, I lived in the UK for ten years, where Jewish prudishness takes an even more rarified form (having absorbed much of the English attitude of repression toward sex in general)

    So, no: I do not consider you to be a prude. I was just amused, is all.

    Please accept my apology, because I meant no offense whatsoever, and am disappointed in myself that I failed to properly communicate my tone in the email.

    I too assumed that he was joking. I assume that most people are. It helps keep me sane.

    Saner.

    • #76
  17. Hank Rhody, Red Hunter Contributor
    Hank Rhody, Red Hunter
    @HankRhody

    Michael Brehm (View Comment):

    dnewlander (View Comment):

    In New Mexico it’s illegal to make a noose with 13 loops, so the rope can be problematic all on its own…

    Well that’s not just illegal, it’s also unlucky. How’s that old nursery rhyme go again?

    The twelve-loop’d noose tis the hangman’s sure friend.
    Employ the thirteenth and you will surely meet the same end.

    You and I, we went to different nurseries.

    • #77
  18. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    Hank Rhody, Red Hunter (View Comment):

    You and I, we went to different nurseries.

    You probably never heard

    Tattle-tale-tit, your tongue should be slit

    either.

    • #78
  19. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):

    Thank you. Sorry.

    I may not be a prude, but sometimes I misread people.

    Cheers!

    And here, I was imagining that you would grab onto it and change your pen-name to “Mama Prude” for a week.

    • #79
  20. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    Percival (View Comment):

    I too assumed that he was joking. I assume that most people are. It helps keep me sane.

     

    And the funny thing is that I practically accused him of having no sense of humor in his thread… Sorry again…

    In my excuse, I had just been stung by an ornery yellow jacket and my arm was throbbing and sore when I got all annoyed…

    • #80
  21. Phil Turmel Inactive
    Phil Turmel
    @PhilTurmel

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    I too assumed that he was joking. I assume that most people are. It helps keep me sane.

     

    And the funny thing is that I practically accused him of having no sense of humor in his thread… Sorry again…

    In my excuse, I had just been stung by an ornery yellow jacket and my arm was throbbing and sore when I got all annoyed…

    Ow!  Sounds like you need to send a child to Georgia Tech, so you’ll be family.  (-:

    • #81
  22. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    GrannyDude (View Comment):

    ctlaw (View Comment):

    GrannyDude: his mother does not permit him to have toy guns.

    Obvious question: What does his father say about that?

    There isn’t one.

    Does the kid get enough food? Hopefully, the mom isn’t trying to stunt his growth by making him a vegan.

    • #82
  23. Jabberwock Inactive
    Jabberwock
    @Jabberwock

    Curt North (View Comment):

    Give any little boy a stick, and he’ll invariably whack something with it, often yelling “Hah” while making a sword move. I did, and made the stick guns too. Little girls have their make believe world too, just different toys.

    When our son turned five his baby sitter gave him a croquet set for his birthday. He promptly unscrewed all of the mallet heads to create a collection of swords. He then employed his newfound sword collection to “behead” all of the tulips in his mother’s flowerbed. We only witnessed the sad demise of the final tulip so I cannot say whether each beheading was accompanied by a “touche'” or an “hah.” He turned out all right. He sends his mother tulips every year for Mothers’ Day.

    If a boy doesn’t turn sticks and stones into swords and guns, you really have something to worry about.

    • #83
  24. GrannyDude Member
    GrannyDude
    @GrannyDude

    CB Toder aka Mama Toad (View Comment):

    Thank you. Sorry.

    I may not be a prude, but sometimes I misread people.

    Cheers!

    I had a feeling this might be the case, knowing iWe! It can be difficult to “read” what would be obvious if tone of voice and expression were part of the equation! 

    • #84
  25. Amy Schley Coolidge
    Amy Schley
    @AmySchley

    Jabberwock (View Comment):
    He promptly unscrewed all of the mallet heads to create a collection of swords.

     Kid needed exposure to the glories of maces and war hammers. 

    • #85
  26. Hank Rhody, Red Hunter Contributor
    Hank Rhody, Red Hunter
    @HankRhody

    Amy Schley (View Comment):

    Jabberwock (View Comment):
    He promptly unscrewed all of the mallet heads to create a collection of swords.

    Kid needed exposure to the glories of maces and war hammers.

    Careful there; it’s easier to break a mallet with the head still attached.

    • #86
  27. La Tapada Member
    La Tapada
    @LaTapada

    One year when my boys were young I asked them to help me decorate the Christmas tree. They were happy to hang a few ornaments, but then they went and got their GI Joes and set them up in the branches in sniper positions. So we made that a yearly tradition for a while. They were set deep in the branches, so most people didn’t see them. It was fun to see people’s reactions when they did see them.

    • #87
  28. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Hank Rhody, Red Hunter (View Comment):

    Amy Schley (View Comment):

    Jabberwock (View Comment):
    He promptly unscrewed all of the mallet heads to create a collection of swords.

    Kid needed exposure to the glories of maces and war hammers.

    Careful there; it’s easier to break a mallet head with the head mallet still attached.

    FIFY

    • #88
  29. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Hank Rhody, Red Hunter (View Comment):

    Amy Schley (View Comment):

    Jabberwock (View Comment):
    He promptly unscrewed all of the mallet heads to create a collection of swords.

    Kid needed exposure to the glories of maces and war hammers.

    Careful there; it’s easier to break a mallet head with the head mallet still attached.

    FIFY

    When I was about 14 and my brother was about 12, I gave him a serious whack on the head with a croquet mallet head – it really was by accident. We thought croquet would be far more interesting if we gave the mallet a good swing, rather than just the wimpy little tap we’d get by keeping the mallet head no more than 6 inches above the grass (the instructions we were given). My brother lived and recovered quickly, but no more croquet for us for quite a while.

    • #89
  30. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    Phil Turmel (View Comment):

    Ow! Sounds like you need to send a child to Georgia Tech, so you’ll be family. (-:

    Well, my niece is in her second year of engineering there… 

    • #90
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