Growing up in the 1960s and 70s, it wasn't uncommon for younger boys to get BB guns as gifts for birthdays, Christmas, etc. Older boys received hunting rifles.

And, there were always those who wandered the neighborhood shooting their BB guns at birds and squirrels. In my Florida neighborhood, you might even have found them standing on the banks of one of the deep trench ditches, taking pot shots at baby gators. You'd find those same boys tormenting lizards and frogs, trapping lightening bugs or butterflies in jar and watching them die, etc. It seemed boys and petty cruelties were acceptable back then — in some cases, almost expected of them.

I'm so glad my son never showed any inclination to such petty cruelties.