Back in the day

"Kids still go for good old-fashioned Western adventure, and this show is loaded with fast action and fancy gun play, yet wholesome enough to please the most exacting parent."

Bundy, June (July 2, 1949). "B-Bar-B Ranch" (PDF). Billboard. p. 13. Retrieved 23 December 2016.

Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders was on CBS Radio Oct. 17, 1932, until Dec. 11 1936 and on Mutual Radio June 21, 1949, until June 17, 1955.

The show was one of my favorites for a couple of years. That, Gunsmoke, Sky King, Fury and other Westerns whose titles I no longer remember. My father read Western novels by the dozens, and I got each book when he was finished.

These days, you would be hard pressed to find an entertainment program in which the phrases “fancy gun play” and “wholesome” were used together.

Those days, though, we saw guns for what they were, tools used after training. We got lessons on using axes, saws, hammers, tin snips, rifles, shotguns and pistols.

All country kids knew how to handle guns responsibly. The times were more peaceful.