Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-11-24
THE CRAZE FOR FIREARMS

~ODAY'S newspapers carry the tragic
! story of the accidental killing of a
- youth who desired to own a revolver
and had purchased the weapon with his own
money (his very first pay check, but who
killed himself by careless handling of the re-
volver in the immediate presence of his
| father, mother and their children on yester-
day, not far from the city of Atlanta.
| 1t is the same old, old story, didn't know
! it was loaded" and the youth paid the pen
| atty and is now in his grave
| 1t is the one particular tragedy that al
ways comes along where parents encourage
| the use of toy firearms with their children.
| AS l see it, the majority of Americans are
| intent warlike paraphernalia, and by the
! time child is able to know what toy PTS
| tol is the youngster is given toy pistols and
cannon the one particular gift to the citi-
zen still in embryo.
In the seventies we were in Washington
| City, my husband and myself, with a lit
tie son of six or seven years, were boarding
in the same hotel when Hon. Alex H. Ste
phens had rooms, and we were friendly
neighbors with the "Old Commoner," as he
liked to be called by his admirers.
1 had made little shopping trip out in
the city to find Santa Claus gifts for the
little boy on Christmas Eve AS I came
back to the hotel [ called on Mr.. Stephens
in his parlor, and told him l had been thus
engaged in getting things for the child S
stocking as Christmas gifts.
The old gentleman was very kind to the
little chap, and told me he had also remem-
bered him, and then requested to. see what
had provided for the same purpose. Among
the small parcels was tiny toy pistol and
a harmless little noise maker for the same.
The aged congressman proceeded to give
me a lecture the pistol gift and he said
this craze for firearms was lnstilled into
American children by the time they could
ia IN
the indirect cause of thousands of shooting
scrapes and murders and accidents.
Indirectly, he also made me feel that he
had expected better things of me; he cred
tied me with better sense, and he was so
much in earnest he begged me to leave the
little toy pistol with him and not to allow
the boy to know it had been bought for him.
/ was duly impressed with his real affection
for the child and what he said to me aWak-
ened my mind to the truth of his words He
often discoursed on this fateful ebsession or
craving for military trappings, and deplored
the harmful waste of money on firearms by
the majority of our people. He said it was
national craze and we were prone to war,
and what war stood for, and the idea was
planted in little children by injudicious
fondnesssfor guns and pistols as toys
Speaking of his defeat for the United
States senate soon after the Civil war; he
laid it to the Drum and Fife which, he
declared, had previously pushed Georgia into
the Civil war of the SOS. He was a Union
man, and he with Hon. HerschaI " Johnson,
did their best to avoid secession, when they
were voted down by the war, contingent in
the famous secession convention.
What he did with the little toy pistol that
I turned over to him, I never knew, but I
felt sure he had either burned it in his glow
ms. anthracite coal CRATE, or had it carried
out in the garbage next day
1t was a word in season to me-. I never
bought or bestowed another toy pistol on my
grandchildren. My pen and voice have been
enlisted against this foolish craze for fire.
arms.