I heard this live on December 22, 1949 while sitting on my Grandparents back porch out at the farm in rural Mississippi....I was 10 years old......
It was controversial then and still is today..........
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Dragnet broke one of the unspoken (and still rarely broached) taboos of popular entertainment in the episode ".22 Rifle for Christmas" which aired December 22, 1949 and was repeated at Christmastime for the next three years. The episode followed the search for two young boys, Stanley Johnstone and Stevie Morheim, only to discover Stevie had been accidentally killed while playing with a rifle that belonged to Stanley—who'd be receiving it as a Christmas present but opened the box early; Stanley finally told Friday that Stevie was running while holding the rifle when he tripped and fell, causing the gun to discharge, fatally wounding Morheim. NBC received thousands of complaint letters, including a formal protest by the National Rifle Association. Webb forwarded many of the letters to police chief Parker who promised "ten more shows illustrating the folly of giving rifles to children".
That's right: in the late 1940's a popular radio star highlighted the danger of giving guns to kids, and when protested by the NRA got the chief of the LAPD to give them the finger. 1949.
Dragnet doesn't wear very well today, all of its spawn notwithstanding. However I think this illustrates that the NRA has been a bad actor for a very long time. 1949 was 64 years ago. Sixty-four. Years. Ago.
There are still people today giving guns to five year olds, and there are still children dying.
Love him or hate him, Jack Webb did us a public service, and so did Chief Parker of the LAPD.
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